U.S. Copyright Office — Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reports and Registration Guidance
United States · 17 U.S.C. § 102; U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright and AI Reports (2024–2025)
The U.S. Copyright Office has ruled that purely AI-generated works cannot be copyrighted — human creativity is required, and typing prompts alone is not enough. Its multi-part AI report covers digital replicas (2024), copyrightability of AI outputs (Jan 2025), and AI training on copyrighted works (May 2025 pre-publication). Whether AI training is fair use is being decided in ongoing litigation.
Technical detail
Copyright Office registration guidance (88 Fed. Reg. 16190 (2023)) and its Copyright and AI Report interpret 17 U.S.C. § 102's human-authorship requirement: AI-generated material is registrable only to the extent of human creative contribution; Part 3 (training data/fair use) was released in pre-publication form May 9, 2025.
Who is protected: Human authors and rights holders; applicants for copyright registration
Who must comply: Copyright registration applicants (must disclose AI-generated content); AI developers indirectly via training/fair-use analysis
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | United States |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Status | In effect |
| Protection strength | Limited protection |
| Citation | 17 U.S.C. § 102; U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright and AI Reports (2024–2025) |
| Enforced by | U.S. Copyright Office (registration practice); federal courts (infringement) |
| Private right of action | Yes — individuals can sue |
| Penalties | Refusal or cancellation of registration; infringement remedies under Title 17 |
| Topics | copyright and training data · AI-generated images · AI disclosure and transparency |
| Last verified | 2026-06-10 |
| Official source | Copyright and Artificial Intelligence | U.S. Copyright Office ↗ |
More AI rules in United States
- Trump AI Innovation & Security EO (June 2026) · In effect
- FERC order directing PJM and other grid operators to reform · Enacted (not yet in effect)
- Chatrie v. United States (Fourth Amendment protection for lo · Blocked / in litigation
- Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act (KIDS Act) (H.R. 7757) · Proposed / pending
- NAIC AI Evaluation Tool Pilot (12 states, 2026) · Proposed / pending
- FTC Proposed Policy Statement — AI Accuracy (July 2026) · Proposed / pending
Related copyright and training data rules elsewhere
- NYT v. OpenAI / Microsoft · Blocked / in litigation
- Authors Guild v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Tremblay v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Silverman v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Kadrey v. Meta · Blocked / in litigation
- Chabon v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
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