AI-generated images cannot be copyright protected

The U.S. Copyright Office has granted a copyright for the parts of the book the author wrote and arranged but not for the AI-created images.

This is one of the first decisions that concerns the scope of copyright protection for works generated with AI. The US Copyright Office canceled partly a copyright registration granted to the "Zarya of the Dawn" comic book due to "non-human authorship".

Kris Kashtanova is the author of the book 'Zarya of the Dawn'. And the cover image of the book has been created by AI-based system Midjourney. It generates images based on text prompts entered by users.

Kris Kashtanova has submitted an application to the U.S. Copyright Office, not specifying the AI-usage. The Copyright Office granded a copyright protection for the first time but "shortly after registering the Work, the Office became aware of statements on social media attributed to Ms. Kashtanova that she had created the comic book using Midjourney artificial intelligence".

The copyright protection was partly canceled due to "non-human authorship".