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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/09/us-rejects-ai-copyright-for-famous-state-fair-winning-midjourney-art/ [arstechnica.com]

On Tuesday, the US Copyright Office Review Board rejected [thomsonreuters.com] copyright protection for an AI-generated artwork that won a Colorado State Fair art contest [arstechnica.com] last year because it lacks human authorship required for registration, Reuters reports [reuters.com]. The win, which was widely covered [wikipedia.org] in the press at the time, ignited controversy over the ethics of AI-generated artwork.
[...]
In August 2022, Artist Jason M. Allen created the piece in question, titled Theatre D'opera Spatial, using the Midjourney [arstechnica.com] image synthesis service, which was relatively new at the time. The image depicting a futuristic royal scene won top prize in the fair's "Digital Arts/Digitally Manipulated Photography" category.
[...]
This is not the first time the Copyright Office has rejected AI-generated artwork. In February, it revoked copyright protection [arstechnica.com] for images made by artist Kris Kashtanova using Midjourney for the graphic novel Zarya of the Dawn [arstechnica.com] but allowed copyrighting the human-arranged portions of the work.

Related:
AI Systems Can't Patent Inventions, US Federal Circuit Court Confirms [soylentnews.org]

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