Can you copyright a fiction novel that contains material generated by artificial intelligence?
The answer is yes, provided that the work contains sufficient original human authorship to be regarded as copyrightable.
On April 5, 2024, the United States Copyright Office (USCO) took a reconsideration action and registered a copyright for Elisa Rae Shupe, who writes under the pseudonym Ellen Rae, for her book titled AI Machinations: Tangled Webs and Typed Words.
Shupe obtained the copyright with the gracious assistance of the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy (BLIP) Clinic.
In an interview with Wired, tech journalist Kate Knibbs details Shupe’s struggle to copyright the novel.
The outcome was only a partial victory for Shupe because the USCO declined to consider the core of her claim: that as a 100% disabled veteran, her disabilities should exempt her from being forced to exclude AI-generated text in her creative works.
