The legal landscape around AI-assisted creative output is dynamic, but this much is clear as of mid-July?2025: AI and IP do NOT mix. Human creativity must drive the work for intellectual property protection to attach to the work.
The Court Says…
In Thaler v. Perlmutter (March?18,?2025), the D.C. Circuit ruled AI cannot be considered an author under U.S. copyright law. Authors are, by definition, human beings. Thus, the chimpanzee who paints cannot be considered an author; neither can your friendly AI bot. In this case, Dr. Stephen Thaler created an AI bot called the Creativity Machine. The Creativity Machine created a drawing, which Dr. Thaler submitted for copyright registration. He listed the Creativity Machine as the sole author of the piece with Dr. Thaler as merely the owner.
The Copyright Office denied the registration because the Copyright Act of 1976 requires that an author be human. Dr. Thaler asked the courts to reverse the Copyright Office’s decision.
The Court ruled that “The Creativity Machine cannot be the recognized author of a copyrighted work because the Copyright Act of 1976 requires all eligible work to be authored in the first instance by a human being.”
This is a ruling from a US Court of Appeals. Other US Courts of Appeals may differ in their opinions.
The next step, should Dr. Thaler choose to appeal and should they grant certiorari, would be the US Supreme Court.
Quick Analysis
This position is rooted in long-standing law. Never has an entity other than a human being been capable of becoming an “author.” Therefore, it stands to reason that a machine … an inanimate object … cannot be an “author.”
But wait. Apes are created by nature. Machines are created by human beings. While products of nature (like apes) cannot be, human beings CAN be “authors.” Therefore, does it make any sense to allow a machine … a human creation … to be an “author”?
Current Answer
The courts currently resoundingly say “NO.” An author is, and remains in the face of AI, a human being and only a human being. The creative spark for the work being copyrighted must contain a significant human element, and only that human-created part of the work can be protected by copyright.
For AI creations there is no protection.
This is a very active area of law. If you’re creating content using any AI machine and you want to protect that content, be sure to get legal advice as you proceed.
