As artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize technological landscapes through breakthrough innovations, AI-generated content (e.g., text, images, music) has sparked disputes over intellectual property ownership. The traditional legal framework is centered on "human creation." Whether machines can become the subject of copyright has challenged traditional laws, such as Copyright Law, Patent Law, and ethical norms. This article examines the significant issues surrounding the ownership of works created by artificial intelligence: first, from the judgment of the United States, China, and the European Union, the judgments of AI-related copyright disputes are analyzed, and the possible holders of AI-generated works are identified, which may involve the developer, the user, the provider of training data, or the AI system itself, but have not yet been clearly defined in the existing legal system. In addition, there are differences in legislation and jurisprudence on such issues across various jurisdictions (e.g., the U.S., the EU, and China), with some countries preferring to attribute rights to developers or users. In contrast, others refuse to recognize the legitimacy of non-human authors. The study points out that the issue of ownership of AI-generated works needs to be resolved by balancing the incentives for technological innovation with the protection of the public interest, and based on this, it proposes that AI-generated works should be given legal protection and that the law should encourage innovation. In the future, it is necessary to explore further the synergistic mechanism of technological transparency, ethical responsibility, and legal adaptability to meet the challenges of property rights in the age of intelligence.
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On Ownership of Copyright of Generated Works under Generative Artificial Intelligence
Semantic Scholar · 2025
Abstract
As artificial intelligence continues to revolutionize technological landscapes through breakthrough innovations, AI-generated content (e.g., text, images, music) has sparked disputes over intellectual property ownership. The traditional legal framework is centered on "human creation." Whether machines can become the subject of copyright has challenged traditional laws, such as Copyright Law, Patent Law, and ethical norms. This article examines the significant issues surrounding the ownership of works created by artificial intelligence: first, from the judgment of the United States, China, and the European Union, the judgments of AI-related copyright disputes are analyzed, and the possible holders of AI-generated works are identified, which may involve the developer, the user, the provider of training data, or the AI system itself, but have not yet been clearly defined in the existing legal system. In addition, there are differences in legislation and jurisprudence on such issues across various jurisdictions (e.g., the U.S., the EU, and China), with some countries preferring to attribute rights to developers or users. In contrast, others refuse to recognize the legitimacy of non-human authors. The study points out that the issue of ownership of AI-generated works needs to be resolved by balancing the incentives for technological innovation with the protection of the public interest, and based on this, it proposes that AI-generated works should be given legal protection and that the law should encourage innovation. In the future, it is necessary to explore further the synergistic mechanism of technological transparency, ethical responsibility, and legal adaptability to meet the challenges of property rights in the age of intelligence.