Purely AI-generated art can’t get copyright protection, says Copyright Office

Generative artificial intelligence output based purely on text prompts — even detailed ones — isn’t protected by current copyright law, according to the US Copyright Office.

The department issued this guidance in a broad report on policy issues regarding AI, focused on the copyrightability of various AI outputs. The document concludes that while generative AI may be a new technology, existing copyright principles can apply without changes to the law — and these principles offer…