Protection of Artificial Intelligence Autonomously Generated Works under the Copyright Act, 1957- An Analytical Study

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not new anymore; it has become a new normal. In the present 3A era (Advanced, automated and autonomous), the Next Rembrandt paintings, Shimon’s lyrics and songs and Bot Dylan’s Irish folk songs are the works generated by the AI without any considerable human contribution. In the US, the Copyright Act, 1976 does not protect the works generated independently by the AI without human intervention and thus dropping such works in the public domain immediately after their creation. However, in the UK, the Copyright, Patents and the Designs Act, 1988 under Section 9 (3) attributes copyright to “the person by whom the arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are undertaken” in case of AI generated works. India has taken a giant leap by considering AI as the joint author along with the human responsible for the creation of work. However, there is not much comprehensive literature available that focuses on the impact of AI being considered as a joint author. This paper aims to create a concrete foundation by emphasizing such impact under the Copyright Act, 1957. Furthermore, the paper considers the stance of the US, UK and Australia in protecting AI generated works to suggest measures to the current copyright regime in India.