Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability

Summary

The US Copyright Office published Part 2 of its Copyright and AI series in January 2025, addressing the copyrightability of AI-assisted and AI-generated works. The report confirms that purely AI-generated outputs are not protectable under US copyright law regardless of prompt complexity, while human selection, arrangement or significant modification of AI material can qualify for protection. It covers all creative output types including image, video, audio and text, and represents the operative US registration position that educators must convey to students working with generative tools.

Implications for animation education

This report is required reading for any US-facing animation course that advises students on intellectual property ownership of their AI-assisted work. The core rule is directly teachable: purely AI-generated outputs cannot be registered or owned under US copyright law, however detailed the prompt, but human selection, arrangement or significant modification of AI material can protect the human-authored portion. Animation educators should design assessment tasks and IP disclosure requirements in light of this distinction. Students submitting AI-assisted work for professional portfolios, client projects or competitions need to understand which elements they can claim and which they cannot. The report covers image, video, audio and text, encompassing the full range of output types produced in creative arts programs.

Related items

• Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 1: Digital Replicas
• US Copyright Office Report on Copyright and AI, Part 3: Generative AI Training
• Thaler v. Perlmutter: Supreme Court denies certiorari, human-authorship requirement upheld

Source

Source: United States Copyright Office ↗ (Policy Text)

Primary document: copyright.gov/ai/Copyright-and-Artificial-Intelligence-Part-2-Copyrightability-Report.pdf ↗