{
  "id": 4803861,
  "title": "AI can create original work but can’t be its author, Copyright Office holds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/01/ai-can-create-original-work-but-cant-be-its-author-copyright-office",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-01T06:03:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/ai-cannot-be-author-copyright-office-rejects-dabus-artwork-stephen-thaler-10858241/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The US Copyright Office has ruled that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot be the author of a piece of work, but the work itself can still be protected by copyright law. This decision was made in a case involving a US AI researcher, Stephen Thaler, who attempted to register a copyright for an artwork generated by his AI system, DABUS. Thaler had approached 16 countries with this request.\n\nThe Copyright Office emphasized that the Copyright Act identifies an 'author' as a \"person\" - a human being - who causes the work to be created. The provisions of the act distinguish between the technological mechanism through which the output is generated and the legally recognized person to whom authorship is attributed. The Copyright Office's decision is based on the fact that the artwork was created by DABUS, with minimal real-time human involvement.\n\nThe Copyright Office's ruling comes after a Delhi High Court directed the Office to decide on the issue of AI claiming sole authorship over a work. The court's order stated that the artwork can be considered original, as there is no clear evidence of copying from a specific source or other work. However, the Office rejected Thaler's application for copyright protection, stating that the AI system's autonomy in execution does not alter the identity of the person responsible for bringing the work into existence. The Office clarified that the AI performed the computational processes within the architecture and parameters set by the person who conceived and configured the system.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}