Artists Face an Uphill Battle Against AI in Copyright Cases | PRO Insight

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A federal judge is skeptical that training software on creative works constitutes infringement

A WGA picketer's sign reads "Humanity vs. AI" outside Warner Bros. Studio on Aug. 16.
A WGA picketer's sign reads "Humanity vs. AI" outside Warner Bros. Studio on Aug. 16. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Let’s start with the good news for human creators. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. just upheld the U.S. Copyright Office’s policy that AI-only generated works cannot enjoy copyright protection. 

Human creativity is “at the core of copyrightability, even as that human creativity is channeled through new tools or into new media,” District Judge Beryl Howell wrote. Her ruling Friday puts to rest, at least for now, fears in Hollywood that AI can displace writers to create commercially protected scripts. Why would studios and streamers go the AI-only route if they can’t protect their work product? 

That’s the news on the output side of AI.

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