Is The Ghost In Your Machine Killing Your IP Rights?

The recent rise in the use of “artificial intelligence” (AI) has generated a host of new legal challenges and questions, ranging from sentience to the ownership and legal status of works and other intellectual property generated by or with the assistance of an AI.

For intellectual property, the law usually requires that a person be identified as the source of the work. In copyright law, this person is referred to as an “author,” while in patent law, this is the “inventor.” With a few notable exceptions, authors and inventors are natural persons, not companies, trusts, or other “legal persons”, and they are the original owners of the intellectual property rights associated with their creations. Needless to say, these rights can be very valuable, and it is important to have clarity as to who owns and controls them. Thus, documentation of ownership both prospectively and after the fact already has a well-established legal framework.