Using AI Legally

The advancement of AI technology is not all bad. It has led to new creative avenues that were not possible before. If you use AI for good, the results can be excellent; however, what you create using AI might not be your own. 

Kristina Kashtanova learned this lesson the hard way when she attempted to file a copyright for her graphic novel Zarya of the Dawn. Kashtanova was denied her copyright application because she used AI to generate the images she created. Even though Kashtanova made edits to and stylized the AI generated images, the copyright office denied her application because she did not create the photos. Kashtanova argued that it was her careful wording of the prompts that motivated the AI to create the images, and her stylizing made the images uniquely hers. The copyright office compromised by giving Kashtanova the rights to the literary works contained within the graphic novels as Kashtanova created those on her own without the help of AI.

Without the copyrights to the images, Kashtanova’s work is open for anyone to use as their own, and she cannot sue for damages or get a court order to stop them. This does not mean that you should not use AI to aid in your creative process, only that you should be aware that you may not own the rights to your work.

If you would like to read the entire case of Zarya of the Dawn click here.