New Solutions, Old Problems: The Thaler Case And Why AI Creations Will Not Be Granted Copyright Protection Easily

Thanks to Marianna Riedo for collaborating on this article

In its recent ruling in the case of Thaler v. Perlmutter,¹ the United States District Court for the District of Columbia affirmed that artwork generated solely by artificial intelligence (AI) does not qualify for protection under the Copyright Act.

The court dismissed the plaintiff's argument that copyright law's adaptability to emerging technologies encompasses AI authorship. Judge Beryl A. Howell reasoned that although copyright law is designed to evolve with the changing times and embrace novel forms of expression, the essential requirement of human authorship—particularly human creativity—remains an unchanged and fundamental aspect of copyrightability.