Artificial Intelligence (AI):  US courts have ruled that creations generated solely by an AI cannot be copyrighted

[30/08/2023]

In one of the very first decisions issued in this field, the US District court of Washington ruled on 18 August 2023, that an artwork created solely by an AI was not entitled to a copyright.

In that case, on 14 February 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office Review Board had rejected Stephen Thaler’s copyright application for an image entitled "A Recent Entrance to Paradise" on behalf of Creativity Machine, the AI that exclusively created this artwork.

The applicant, who had already attempted to patent an invention created by his artificial intelligence, had its appeal rejected and the decision of refusal was confirmed by the court, which considered that "human authorship is a bedrock requirement of Copyright”.

Stephen Thaler nevertheless intends to appeal this decision.

Let's wait and see the outcome of the proceedings, and whether it will impact on the courts in Europe when they have to rule on these issues.