In a time of rapid technological progress, we may be approaching the moment when machines or artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to generate works of art autonomously, without any human involvement. The question of whether such works can be protected by copyright is therefore increasingly relevant. Is it sufficient for protection that the machine- generated result looks the same as a human-made work? Does AI even need a reward or incentive to create? Can AI be considered as an “author” who creates “original” works? The current copyright law gives a clear answer, stating that without creative choices made by humans, which are reflected in the originality of the copyright work, we cannot speak of creations that deserve copyright protection. The paper below outlines the main challenges that the development of AI poses to traditional concepts of copyright and sketches possible directions of development. 

The paper “Can AI be the author of a copyright work?” was published in a scientific monograph entitled Law and Artificial Intelligence: Issues of Ethics, Human Rights and Social Harm, edited by dr. Aleš Završnik and dr. Katja Simončič and published by the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana.