AI-Generated Art Case to be Decided by Lower Court

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a case over whether AI-generated art can obtain a copyright, according to sources close to the matter. In 2019, computer scientist Stephen Thaler from Missouri petitioned for copyright protection of an image, titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise,” created using his algorithm. The US Copyright Office initially rejected this request due to concerns about the absence of human authorship in the work. However, a lower court ruling was overturned by another federal appeals court in 2022, which upheld the initial decision that AI-generated art does not qualify for copyright protection. As the Supreme Court declines to intervene, the case will now return to the lower court for further consideration, leaving the determination of AI-generated art’s eligibility for copyright protection to be decided by a judge rather than the high court.