AI Art and Copyright: What You Need to Know
Claiming Creativity: A Guide to Artists Seeking Copyright with AI, SEPTEMBER 25 2024Written by Lori Mazor | Author of TEMPERATURE: Creativity in the Age of AI | Colleen Hoffenbacker | Featured Artist
“We now also have another interesting case study in the work of Colleen Hoffenbacker, the first painter to receive copyright for her work that incorporates generative AI into her creative process.”
The U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) issued formal guidelines on March 16, 2023, clarifying that copyright protection applies only to works with human authorship. AI-generated works without human creative input are ineligible, but those incorporating AI may qualify if a human contributes significant original authorship, such as creatively arranging AI-generated elements. Kristina Kashtanova, an AI Evangelist at Adobe, helped establish this precedent through her storytelling and image selection. In October 2023, Colleen Hoffenbacker became the first painter to receive copyright for artworks integrating generative AI into her creative process.