The case for AI authorship in copyright law

Today, with generative AI, literary and artistic works can be created almost effortlessly. There is at present intense debate as to whether works generated by AI – broadly categorised as ‘AI-assisted’ and ‘AI-generated’ works – ought to attract copyright protection. It is generally accepted that AI-generated works do not attract copyright protection for want of a human author.This article examines whether it is possible to legally recognise AI authorship and whether copyright can, in appropriate circumstances, attach to AI-authored works. The authors are of the view that there are sound doctrinal and policy reasons for recognising AI authorship and that the law would be better served if it were to recognise the possibility of an AI author.Rather than wait for the arrival of more advanced AI, it would be prescient for policy makers to effect appropriate legislative amendments to accommodate what would arguably become an eventual reality.