CRAIG BOEHMAN, Make Use Of; Can You Copyright a Photograph of Your AI Art?
"So you've created an AI-generated artwork. You've used only prompts. And by law, you can't copyright it, so what do you do?
You take a picture of it!
By taking a picture of the work, not only do you own the copyright of the photo, but you also enjoy all the other protections of copyright, including the right to use your photo commercially."
In many ways, generative AI is yet another creative tool that allows a new group of people access to image-making, just like cameras, paintbrushes or Adobe Photoshop. But a key difference is this new set of tools relies explicitly on training data, and therefore creative contributions cannot easily be traced back to a single artist.
The ways in which existing laws are interpreted or reformed – and whether generative AI is appropriately treated as the tool it is – will have real consequences for the future of creative expression."
BRANDON COPPLE—DESCRIPT via Fast Company; Can you copyright the content you make with generative AI?
"So if you’re using generative AI tools to create any part of your content— the cover art for your podcast, the background for your video, anything— the best thing you can do is to be sure you’re employing as much human creativity in the process as possible. This might mean writing prompts with as much detail as possible—well beyond just suggesting ideas. You’ll want to be able to show you had a specific expression of your ideas in mind, and you just used the AI as a tool to generate it...
Of course, the line between what is merely an idea and what’s a specific expression of that idea is subjective, so it may be difficult to know whether what you have added rises to the level of something protectable. We can probably expect things to remain fairly murky, at least for a while.
For now, Lisa warns that it is important to be aware that even highly detailed involvement in the process may not be sufficient to make the output protectible, as the Copyright Office has seemingly set a very high bar. So there may not be much you can to do prevent others from copying AI-generated output. That’s a key consideration when you’re deciding where and how to use generative AI in your creative process.
A final note: as Lisa points out, the Copyright Office did indicate that if someone sufficiently modifies generated output, that could be protectable. So, if you’re using generative AI as a starting point—e.g., using ChatGPT to create a rough draft and then rewriting it for your own voice—be sure you document the changes you made before you try to file for copyright protection, and then explain it in the application."
