As AI becomes increasingly adopted by business, one of the more anomalous aspects of intellectual property remains uncured. Inventions (i.e. things that can be patented) and copyright works (literary works, video, art), if they are created by a machine, do not qualify as intellectual property in most of the world.
Yep, that’s right. If I prompt ChatGPT to create the world’s greatest novel, that novel will not acquire the legal status of copyright and will not get the protections that property brings. Which means, in turn, that it will be very hard for me to bring it to market and exploit it commercially in the normal way.
The reasons are historical and ideological: IP has been seen as an expression of the human creative spark which, by definition, excludes non-humans.
This makes patents and copyright the only forms of property where the ability to become property depends on the means of production. Go figure.
The UK is the exception to the general rule, at least for copyright. In the UK, computer generated works are copyright.
If you would like to hear more about the EU AI Act and legal aspects of AI generally, please let me know.