11 Copyright and AI Part 2. Copyrightability
UPDATED: The 2025 Copyright Office Report on AI-Generated Works
The rapid advancement of generative AI technologies has raised pressing questions about intellectual property rights in higher education, particularly regarding the ownership of AI-generated content. In January 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office released Part 2 of its report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, which directly addresses whether AI-generated works qualify for copyright protection. The report reaffirms that, under current law, works created solely by AI without human intervention are not eligible for copyright protection.
However…
The Copyrightability report clarifies the legal status of AI-generated outputs, emphasizing the longstanding principle that copyright law protects human authorship. This conclusion aligns with previous judicial decisions, most notably the 2023 case of Thaler v. Perlmutter. In this case, the U.S. District Court upheld the Copyright Office’s decision to deny a copyright registration for an image autonomously generated by an AI system, ruling that human creativity is a fundamental requirement for copyright eligibility.
The report underscores the distinction between AI-assisted works and purely AI-generated works:
- AI-Assisted Works: If a human provides creative input and exerts control over the final expression of a work, the human-authored aspects may be eligible for copyright.
- Fully AI-Generated Works: If an AI system creates a work without meaningful human contribution, the work does not qualify for copyright protection.