The United States Copyright Office states that while content generated entirely by artificial intelligence is not eligible for copyright protection, works that incorporate a significant human contribution may be registered. The report clarifies that human creativity remains the central pillar of intellectual property, allowing artists to obtain rights over their creations when they apply noticeable arrangements or modifications to machine-generated outputs. This distinction is crucial because it seeks to uphold the constitutional objectives of copyright law, preventing the granting of monopolies over expressive elements determined exclusively by algorithms. By requiring that human intervention be evident, the regulation aims to balance technological innovation with the preservation of authorship, ensuring that those who use AI as a tool rather than as the sole author retain control over their creative assets. The relevance of this article to open data and data ethics lies in the broader context of training AI models with copyrighted works. Although this report focuses on post-creation protection, it lays the groundwork for critical debate over the extraction and use of data for commercial purposes without consent—a central issue in current struggles for transparency and justice in the handling of cultural and creative information.

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Published on 2025-02-06