Can You Use AI-Generated Art or Code Without Facing Copyright Infringement?

The world is changing fast, thanks to technological evolution. Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a big role in our daily lives. AI-generated art and code include creative outputs created with the assistance of AI tools.

AI-generated art means any visual content, such as images, videos, animations, paintings, pictures, etc., created with the help of AI tools. For instance, imagine a scenario where you are relaxing on your balcony with your phone, and you see a cat walking down the street. Now you wonder what that cat would look like riding a bike. You type a prompt—“A cat riding a bike”—and in a few seconds, you get a picture that brings your wild idea to life. That’s AI-generated art. In another scenario, you give an AI tool a prompt to write code for a game, and it gives the output as per your wish in just a few seconds.

However, this wonder and technological advancement bring some tricky legal issues with it: Can you post it on social media or not? Are you the owner of this created art or code? Can you sell it or not? Is there any copyright infringement?

Even though it is becoming a part of our daily lives, its legal status is still a gray area, as we do not have specific laws on it. This leaves people who are using AI tools confused.

As we understand what AI-generated art and code mean, let’s delve into the complexity of their legal status in simple terms.

Who Owns the AI-Generated Art and Code?

No copyright without human creativity: We have copyright law that protects human creativity. In most nations, including the US and India, the law only protects the creativity of humans. If an output has been created with the help of an AI tool and no real human creativity has been involved, then in this case, the work is not protected by copyright law. Recently, the US Copyright Office stated that AI-generated work without substantial human creative input does not come under copyright.

Human contribution in AI works: If a person puts in more effort than just typing a prompt, like editing the AI’s picture or modifying the picture by combining it with their own work, then there is a chance that they might own the contributed parts.

Can a Person Get in Trouble for Using AI-Generated Content?

AI tools do not learn everything on their own; they study huge amounts of data, including images, code, songs, music, and text available to the public online. Sometimes, this may include works that have copyright protection. There are a few cases where artists, programmers, and writers have sued AI companies for unauthorized use of their work to train artificial intelligence tools.

For example:

ANI v OpenAI (India): ANI, the news agency, has sued OpenAI before the Delhi High Court, arguing that its chatbot ChatGPT was trained on their news stories without their permission. The case is still pending in court.

Andersen v Stability AI (USA): Artists have filed a suit against Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion. They argued that images generated by AI looked too similar to their original art. The court held that the artists could sue the AI company if they prove a high similarity between the AI’s output and their work.

Ghibli Studio Issue:

We all use social media platforms, and nowadays, we have seen the trend of creating a Ghibli version of our images through AI tools. In fact, many of us have done this and have seen a flood of Ghibli images just like scenes from Ghibli movies. But do you know what legal issue subsists with this trend?

Studio Ghibli is a renowned Japanese animation studio, popular for its award-winning animated films, including Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, and Howl's Moving Castle. Founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki and others, the studio is famous for its unique storytelling, stunning visuals, and exploration of themes like nature, society, and the human experience. The founder of the studio has criticized AI art.

Copy of specific work or style -

Copyright law protects actual characters and scenes. Therefore, if AI-generated art copies specific Ghibli scenes or characters, it could be a clear infringement. However, if it mimics the style only, then it’s controversial.

Another aspect of copyright infringement is the training of AI on copyrighted images. If AI tools have been trained by unauthorized use of Ghibli’s images, which are protected under copyright law, then this raises a legal issue as well. In Japan, lawmakers say copying a style is usually okay, but copying actual content isn’t. In the US and other countries, Ghibli could sue if they can show the AI was trained on their works and the output is too similar.

Accidental Infringement -

Many times, AI tools generate art or code identical to a copyrighted work, and a person who is using or selling it unknowingly may be sued without any knowledge or intention of infringement.

AI code generators like GitHub Copilot have been criticized for sometimes spitting out code that matches copyrighted code found online. If you use that code in your project, you could be at risk.

What Steps Should Artists and Studios Take to Safeguard Their Work from Replication by AI?

They may take various measures and steps to ensure the protection of their work from replication. These may include copyright registration of the work, prohibiting the training of AI using these works in licensing agreements, using technological measures such as anti-scraping tools, blocking AI crawlers, and using strategic online practices like selective sharing of artwork.

Need for New Regulations or Amendment in the Copyright Act -

There is a need for amendment of the Act to resolve legal issues arising from AI-generated work, which leads to copyright infringement. Moreover, the current Act also needs to be interpreted in a manner to effectively provides remedies for infringement.

Court’s Perspective on Fair Use -

In India, the Copyright Act has an exception known as “fair dealing.” This concept only allows a person to use someone else’s work in certain situations, such as for private use, review of any work, or reporting current events given in public. If someone violates someone else’s copyrighted work for reasons other than those above, then it will be considered infringement. As of now, there haven’t been any court cases in India about whether AI copying an artistic style counts as copyright infringement.

In Conclusion, this technological advancement is creating amazing and unexpected opportunities in our lives. However, the law related to it hasn’t effectively advanced yet for this purpose. One cannot claim ownership or copyright on creations by AI tools. Some issues are persisting. However, for now, the safest possible way to use AI is by taking its assistance only, not as a replacement. Combine its output with your creativity and ideas.