Beyond technical necessity: rethinking the copyright puzzle of generative AI

Abstract The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) poses significant challenges to copyright law, particularly regarding AI-generated outputs. Unlike deterministic systems, generative AI employs advanced machine learning models to autonomously produce text, images, music and multimodal content, often in unpredictable and highly creative ways. These developments raise pressing questions within the harmonized European Union (EU) copyright framework, which is grounded in the concept of originality as the ‘author’s own intellectual creation’. The article focuses on the copyrightability of AI-generated outputs and the extent of human contribution required for protection. It critically examines prompt engineering and its relationship to the idea-expression dichotomy, questioning whether prompts reflect sufficient ‘free and creative choices’ to qualify for authorship. The analysis also considers collaborative models between humans and AI, exploring how rights might be allocated among users, programmers and other actors. Ultimately, the article argues that any future reform must remain anchored in copyright’s human-centred foundations while addressing the growing economic and cultural value of AI-generated works. Overall, the article provides a fresh perspective on the legal complexities posed by generative AI, focusing on its output. It analyses the implications for copyright, while seeking to balance the system’s foundational principles with AI’s transformative potential.