Images in a photo book created using the artificial-intelligence system Midjourney should not be allowed copyright protection, the US Copyright Office said in a letter seen by Reuters.
“Zarya of the Dawn” author Kris Kashtanova is entitled to a copyright for the parts of the book Kashtanova wrote and arranged, but not for the images produced by Midjourney, the agency said in its bookTuesday.
The decision is one of the first decisions by a US court or agency on the scope of copyright protection for works created with AI, and comes in amid the growing rise of AI-powered software such as Midjourney, Dall-E and ChatGPT.
The Copyright Office said in its letter that it will resubmit its registration for “Zarya of the Dawn” to remove images “that were not obtained by the human author” and therefore cannot be then copyright.
The Copyright Office has no comment on the decision.
Kashtanova said on Wednesday that the “new story” was granted by the copyright protection office for the story and the way the images were arranged, which Kashtanova said “includes a lot of use for people in the AI community.”
Kashtanova said they are considering the best way to proceed with the argument that the photos themselves are a “direct expression of my creativity and therefore can be copyrighted.”
Midjourney’s general counsel, Max Sills, said the decision was a “huge victory for Kris, Midjourney, and the artists,” and that the Copyright Office is “making it clear that if an artist takes control of a film production tool like Midjourney … is protected.”
Midjourney is an AI-based system that generates images based on user-entered text. Kashtanova wrote the text of “Zarya of the Dawn,” and Midjourney created the illustrations for the book based on inspiration.
The Copyright Office told Kashtanova in October that the book’s copyright registration would be reviewed because the application did not disclose Midjourney’s role.
The office said on Tuesday that it will provide copyright protection for the book’s text and the way Kashtanova selected and arranged its elements. But Kashtanova is said not to be the “mastermind” behind the films themselves.
“The fact that users cannot see what makes Midjourney special makes Midjourney different for copyright purposes than other tools used by artists,” the letter said.
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