Teacher Guides | Teacher Guides: Law

Teacher Guide: Copyrights and Artificial Intelligence: Should Creative Works Authored by AI Be Eligible for Copyright Protection?

Published: Sept. 30, 2021.

Robot Love, Xtender, Art AI Gallery
Robot Love, Xtender, Art AI Gallery

By Nina I. Brown

Nina Brown is an attorney and professor who teaches at the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University. Her research focuses on the intersection of media law and technology.

In 2018, Christie’s auction house in New York sold a painting, Portrait of Edmond Bellamy, for $432,500. This sales price was significant. Not because it was exceptionally high—Christie’s has had many sales that would dwarf this price—but because the painting was not made by a human being. It was created by a computer using artificial intelligence (AI).

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AI Algorithms art Artificial Intelligence computers Copyright Copyright Law David Slater First Amendent Free Speech Freedom of Expression Naruto v. Slater PETA Public Domain
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