AI-14 Harmonies + Copyright Law

Earlier this year, I published a list of the 14 modalities of AI in song creation. (below list) This name was inspired by the idea of harmonies, which are a fundamental aspect of music composition.

Raising this list again because of a recent ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that artwork created by artificial intelligence is not eligible for copyright protection because it lacks human authorship.

While I am not a lawyer, and don’t play one on TV this ruling seems to answer the question of whether all AI-created works are ineligible for copyright protection, or if there is a grey area for works that involve significant human input.

Anyone working with AI and music creation knows that there is a lot of human involvement in all aspects of the process. Some key takeaways from the recent rulings on copyright protection for AI-generated works include:

•Copyright law is based on the principle that copyright protection is only granted to works that are the product of human creativity. In the DC ruling, the judge stated that “human authorship” is the bedrock of copyright law.

•AI-generated works are not considered to be the product of human creativity, and therefore are not eligible for copyright protection. The Copyright Office has denied registration for AI-generated images.

•There is uncertainty about how this principle will apply to AI-generated works that are created with significant human input.

These recent rulings suggest that the courts are still trying to reckkon with the challenges posed by AI-generated works.  As value is created with the media the likely hood of aspects of this being revisited by the courts is likely.

AI-14 Harmonies: Modalities Involving AI in Song Creation, Including Music Video

1. AI-Written (Music and Lyrics), AI-Sung
2. AI-Written (Music and Lyrics), Human-Sung
3. Human-Written (Music and Lyrics), AI-Sung
4. AI-Written Music, Human-Written Lyrics, Human-Sung
5. AI-Written Music, Human-Written Lyrics, AI-Sung
6. Human-Written Music, AI-Written Lyrics, Human-Sung
7. Human-Written Music, AI-Written Lyrics, AI-Sung
8. AI and Human Collaboration on Writing, Human-Sung
9. AI and Human Collaboration on Writing, AI-Sung
10. AI as a Music Producer (AI creates backing track, human writes lyrics), Human-Sung
11. AI Creates Music Video for Human-Written and Performed Song
12. AI Creates Music Video for AI-Written and Human-Performed Song
13. AI Creates Music Video for Human-Written and AI-Performed Song 14 . AI Creates Music Video for AI-Written and AI-Performed Song