Nuked Hey followers! Today I’m talking about the US Copyright Office’s decision on Kristina Kashtanova’s comic book Zarya of the Dawn, which featured images created by Midjourney, an artificial intelligence image generator.
The US Copyright Office has decided that Kashtanova is the author of the Work’s text as well as the selection, coordination, and arrangement of the Work’s written and visual elements. However, they have determined that the AI-generated images themselves are not the product of human authorship and therefore not eligible for copyright protection.
To explain their decision, the Copyright Office has cited previous cases where people weren’t able to copyright words or songs that listed “non-human spiritual beings” or the Holy Spirit as the author. They have also referenced an incident where a selfie was taken by a monkey.
The Copyright Office has stated that they only became aware that the images were produced by Midjourney after the registration was granted, based on social media posts by Kashtanova. Neither Midjourney nor Kashtanova were explicitly mentioned in the 18 pages of material submitted to the Copyright Office.
The Copyright Office has concluded that their original certificate was issued based on “inaccurate and incomplete information” and has therefore been canceled. They have also dismissed Kashtanova’s claim that her edits to some of the images make them eligible for copyright, judging that the changes were either “too minor and imperceptible to supply the necessary creativity for copyright protection” or that it couldn’t be determined based on what was submitted.
Kashtanova posted about the decision on Instagram, calling it a “great day” for people using Midjourney and similar tools. Her lawyer Lindberg disagrees with the Copyright Office’s decision, arguing that there are a number of errors with their arguments. He believes AI-assisted art should be treated like photography.
Kashtanova has said that her lawyers are looking into her options to explain to the Copyright Office how individual images produced by Midjourney are direct expressions of her creativity and therefore copyrightable.
