The rise of artificial intelligence has led to the creation of visual art, music and much more. Among those who have used AI technology to their advantage is Kristina Kashtanova, head of product at MiniStudio. Kashtanova has created a popular comic by the name of Zarya of the Dawn, a series containing original writing and AI-generated images. In an effort to protect their work, they attempted to file her work with the U.S. Copyright Office.
This week, Kashtanova heard back from the U.S. Copyright Office. Ultimately, the office determined that their writing was protected. However, the portion of their comics that use AI-generated images would not be protected.
“In cases where non-human authorship is claimed, appellate courts have found that copyright does not protect the alleged creations,” the U.S. Copyright Office stated.
Disappointed by the partial victory, Kashtanova is excited to continue with their work.
“This is a great day for everyone that is creating using Midjourney and other tools. When you put your images into a book like Zarya, the arrangement is copyrightable. The story is copyrightable as well as long as it’s not purely AI produced. That covers a lot of uses for the people in the AI art community,” they wrote on Instagram.
“I was disappointed in one aspect of the decision. The Copyright Office didn’t agree to recognize my copyright of the individual images. I think that they didn’t understand some of the technology, so it led to a wrong decision.”
