Introduction
A class of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, known as machine learning algorithms, creates new outputs based on the input for which they have been trained. This algorithm is designed to recognize patterns and can make predictions. Generative AI creates new content in various forms, including images, text, audio, and more (World Economic Forum, 2023). This creates the possibility of implications for the copyright law. The AI-generated text is machine-generated search requests, such as articles, stories, music lyrics, and other types of generated work.
Authorship and Liability for AI-Generated Text
Therefore, evaluating who should be regarded as the “author” of AI-generated text for copyright law is necessary. One conceivable opinion is to consider the AI algorithm’s owner as the author of the text. Under this approach, the algorithm’s owner would be the copyright owner and be accountable for any probable copyright infringement. This solution has the benefits of simplicity and clarity, as the author of the text is easily identifiable.
Legal Personality for AI
At least in countries that follow a legalistic system where only the law specifies which entities are legal persons, legislation stating that, under certain conditions, AI may acquire legal personality would be sufficient. Several questions would be raised by such a regulation, including when AI’s legal personality would begin and end, how its assets would be valued, and whether or not other people might be held liable for AI’s actions. These are not insurmountable, as similar problems have arisen for other businesses and have been resolved. Based on the literature reviewed, it is worth noting that this study systematizes existing scientific data and proposes solutions to address the problem. A gap in the literature on this topic is observed in the search for alternative solutions that will help determine the vector of development of legislation in the field of AI copyright.
Copyright Law and AI-Generated Content
Copyright law is designed to safeguard the rights and interests of the creators of original works. If AI tools have been used, it becomes difficult to determine who should claim ownership and copyright to the material. Furthermore, a critical key finding has been the claim that copyright requires an individual to have created the content. Another requirement is that such content must meet the originality criteria, as it is not an idea or work already existing, an aspect common across most jurisdictions.
Enforcing Copyright Requirements for AI-Generated Content
The Copyright Office has disallowed this notion in most countries and only accepts content created entirely by humans. In many countries, copyright laws consider creativity the central element of the author’s identity. In this case, originality becomes an essential condition for copyright. Therefore, it can be understood that copyright law focuses on protecting the interests of the persons who created the products.
Limitations of the Current Legal Framework
In one case, Getty v. Stability AI, Getty sued Stability for copyright infringement, claiming that the AI had used over 12 million copyrighted images (Garon et al., 2023). The case indicated that liability often falls to the AI’s owner if the AI engages in copyright infringement. This may subject the AI’s owner to legal obligations because they would be responsible for the AI’s decisions and output.
AI and Legal Personhood
This research establishes that no theoretical barriers prevent AI from being granted legal personality. For instance, countries now recognize humanoid robots, granting them citizenship and residency. For example, Saudi Arabia decided to grant citizenship to Sophia, a humanoid robot. While other countries, such as Japan, have given residency through an online system (Chesterman, 2020). The current legislation states that AI may acquire legal personality under specific circumstances. In this case, it can be claimed that if all it takes for an entity to gain legal status is to make situational judgments, AI qualifies as a legal person.
AI and Authorship
Copyright law protects original authors from both human and non-human authors, but issues remain complicated when text is generated by non-humans (Fjeld et al., 2020). Furthermore, problems arise from the fact that developers are designing AI tools to assist authors in areas such as grammar or idea generation. This raises the question of whether AI can be considered as a co-author of a text with a human author. Additionally, the questions regarding the liability of AI-generated content vary across jurisdictions. This is because some countries have a different vision for AI.
AI and Copyright Law
Currently, tech giants such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and GitHub are being sued in a class action lawsuit, accusing them of violating copyright law for authorizing Copilot to regulate licensed code snippets without crediting the original authors (Wiggers, 2023). Copilot is an AI system for generating code trained to use billions of lines of public code. This lawsuit has the potential to rewrite the rules of AI copyright, as it will determine where legal liability lies when AI tools infringe copyright laws.
Conclusion
It is essential to create a legal framework that will help regulate and address the copyright issues related to the ownership of content produced by AI, and to provide clarity on this matter by unifying the definition of copyright. This might establish a clear path for AI and help determine the ownership and liabilities that follow the content owner. Based on the study, it is worth noting that the research question was fully addressed and recommendations for further research were provided, as they were grounded in generalized conclusions.
References
Chesterman, S. (2020) Artificial intelligence and the limits of legal personality. International & Comparative Law Quarterly, 69(4), 819-844.
Garon, Jon M., A practical introduction to generative AI, synthetic media, and the messages found in the latest medium (2023). Web.
Fjeld, J., et al. (2020). Principled artificial intelligence: mapping consensus in ethical and rights-based approaches to principles for AI. Harvard: Social Science Research Network.
Wiggers, K. (2023) The current legal cases against generative AI are just the beginning. Web.
World Economic Forum. (2023). Generative AI can now explain how algorithms work – and why they fail. Web.