The Human Authorship Requirement in AI-Generated Works: A Comparative Analysis of Copyright Protection Frameworks

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence has brought challenges to traditional copyright frameworks. These frameworks have long required human authorship as a key condition for protection. This paper focuses on how different jurisdictions deal with copyright protection for AI-generated works that involve little human input. It analyzes recent court decisions and new policy developments in three major regions: the United States, the European Union, and some selected Asian jurisdictions. Through this analysis, the paper identifies emerging patterns in legal practices. Most jurisdictions still keep the human authorship requirement. They refuse to give copyright protection to works created purely by AI systems. However, there are significant differences between these regions. These differences mainly lie in how they treat works made through human-AI collaboration and how they allocate copyright rights for such works. The paper concludes that policymakers now face an urgent challenge. They need to establish clear guidelines to define the minimum level of human contribution required for copyright protection. At the same time, these guidelines must balance three aspects: encouraging technological innovation, protecting the rights of human creators, and keeping consistency with existing copyright principles.