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

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).