Artificial intelligence: copyright and authorship/ownership dilemma?

Abstract

Along with new creative opportunities, various new legal challenges have been created with the introduction of sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI). Computer programs like Google’s Deep Dream create unique and intricate artworks, which is hard to distinguish from human creations. The law is not unaware of artificial intelligence problems; our legal framework is not developed to resolve AI’s rapid development issues. The problem is that our legal system has no answers to apparently uncomplicated questions such as “Who is the creator of a machine-produced painting using AI?” The law does not ignore artificial intelligence problems; our legal framework has not been developed to resolve concerns relating to rapid AI development. Modern copyright laws have been drafted in such a fashion as to take originality into account as a manifestation of the author’s identity, while originality is one of the necessary conditions for copyright subsistence. So, what if we get the personality out of the equation? Do machines create works without copyright? Do we have to amend the copyright law in order to incorporate AI under its ambit? This article will explore these and other questions and potential solutions to the existing problem at hand; who is the author in the case of AI-generated works?