A US federal appeals court has ruled that artificial intelligence (AI)-generated art cannot be copyrighted under US law, citing the need for a human author to create the work. The decision, made by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, upholds a lower court’s ruling that human authorship is a “bedrock requirement” of copyright law.
Stephen Thaler’s AI system, DABUS, was at the center of the case. Thaler had applied for a copyright in 2018 for an image created by his AI system, but the US Copyright Office rejected the application in 2022. The court agreed that human authorship is required to be eligible for copyright protection.
The ruling marks the latest attempt by US officials to address the implications of the growing generative AI industry on copyright law. This follows a separate rejection of artists’ bids for copyrights on images generated by Midjourney, another AI system.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-appeals-court-rejects-copyrights-ai-generated-art-lacking-human-creator-2025-03-18