The U.S. Copyright Office Registers Over 1,000 Works Enhanced by Artificial Intelligence.
Creators are already using artificial intelligence to "enhance" their artworks.
The U.S. Copyright Office is engaged in an important investigation into legislation related to copyright and artificial intelligence. In a recent interview, a lawyer from the Office mentioned that works that have been "enhanced" with AI are already being registered. In an April article in a specialized journal, General Counsel Assistant Jalyce Mangum stated that the Office has registered over a thousand works where applicants have followed its guidelines to disclose and exclude AI-generated material.
Mangum highlighted that the Office evaluates whether AI is enhancing human expression or if it is the source of expressive decisions. A report from January 2025 confirmed that hundreds of AI-enhanced works had been registered, and it is now known that the number has exceeded one thousand.
Meanwhile, many artists have expressed their opposition to artificial intelligence, rejecting its use in any creative activity. Reports have emerged of backlash against the use of AI in film productions such as The Brutalist and Late Night With the Devil, as well as in projects like the restoration of The Wizard of Oz and the controversial Studio Ghibli images that employ ChatGPT.
Previously, the Office had determined that material generated by AI tools is only eligible for copyright protection if it is part of a work predominantly created by a human. This means that images created through tools like DALL-E, ChatGPT, or Midjourney cannot be copyrighted, regardless of the effort put into perfecting the prompt.
The Office's complete guide on AI-assisted material can be found on its website, according to a representative. This guide was part of a report from the Office on copyright and artificial intelligence, which reaffirmed that copyrights do not extend to material generated purely and simply by AI or to material with insufficient human control over expressive elements. However, it has been established that material that has been "enhanced" by AI is indeed eligible for copyright registration. The second part of the report also mentions specific use cases, such as the removal of crowds from photos, video stabilization tools, and ray tracing.