Who Owns AI-Generated Content? Human Authorship Still Controls, and Documenting the Creation Process Is Critical

Short summary

The Copyright Act requires human authorship for copyright protection; purely AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted, but AI-assisted works may be if humans controlled the expressive elements. Prompting alone doesn't establish ownership—meaningful revision, selection, or arrangement does. Companies should document human creative input, be precise in registration claims, and update contracts to reflect that AI-assisted output may have limited protectability.

• •Human authorship is required by law for copyright protection of AI-generated works
• •Prompting alone does not establish ownership; meaningful human revision or selection is needed
• •Companies must document human creative contributions and update policies to reflect limited protectability of AI-assisted content

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.