With AI-generated art continuing to rise in popularity across the globe, the question of copyright has also been a hot topic of discussion.
With the lines slightly blurred, and the subject frequently up for debate, many artists are voicing their worries regarding copyright infringement.
Who is classed as the artist?
Recently, Kris Kashtanova, a New York-based artist, revealed that their AI-generated graphic novel had received US copyright registration.
Kashtanova’s graphic novel was made using Midjourney, an AI program that creates images from textual descriptions, which they had declared on the front page of the novel.
In the copyright registration, which is accessible to the public, the sole author is declared as Kashtanova.
This is a big step following previous attempts to obtain copyright on AI-generated art, which identified the AI as the lone author.
What are the concerns?
Recently, Getty Images proclaimed they would prohibit AI-generated images on their site, citing ongoing concerns with copyright.
AI art generators use equipment that collects millions of images from across the internet, before using latent diffusion to create an image based on a user’s prompt.
As a result, there has been backlash from the art community, with many artists worrying that these AI producers are plagiarising their designs.
This has made the notion of copyrighting it much more challenging.
What is the legislation in the UK?
Already, the UK has passed legislative revisions allowing AI-generated art to be safeguarded by copyright, one of a range of countries protecting works produced by a computer where there is no human creator.
The author of a computer-generated work is characterised as “the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken”.
This protection lasts for 50 years from the date the work is created.
Will more countries be following suit?
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