Copyright in the Age of AI: Who Owns AI-Assisted Content?
By Eric D. Morton
The legal controversies surrounding artificial intelligence and copyrights are endless. Dozens of lawsuits regarding AI are pending in Federal courts, primarily in California and New York. Software, music, graphic art, and other industries are affected. For most business owners, these are remote issues. However, everyone has a website, and many businesses generate works that are covered by copyright law. Furthermore, most small businesses rely on outside graphic artists, web designer, software programers, and others to create works. Contractors are increasingly using AI tools for their work. While these tools provide remarkable efficiency, they also introduce complex copyright ownership questions. Companies relying on outside vendors or independent contractors should be particularly cautious.
AI Cannot Hold Copyright — But It Can Complicate Ownership
Under current U.S. copyright law, only works created by human authors are eligible for protection. Purely AI-generated materials—where the user contributes minimal creative input—legally have no author and, as a result, no copyright exists. In these cases, the resulting content may fall into the public domain immediately, meaning anyone could reuse it without permission.
When a human meaningfully shapes or edits AI-generated output, portions of the final work may be protected, but only the human-created elements receive copyright protection. That creates uncertainty: a work may be partly owned—yet partly unprotected.
Independent Contractors: Who Owns the Rights?
Even without AI in the mix, default rules often assign copyright ownership to the creator—not the company paying for the work—unless there is a written agreement that explicitly states otherwise. For companies hiring independent contractors to generate content using AI (such as blog posts, marketing material, or product descriptions), gaps in contract language can result in:
• Split ownership of content
• Inability to enforce exclusivity
• Risks of the contractor reusing or reselling the same materials
Businesses must have written contracts with contractors with clear “work made for hire” and assignment language to secure copyrights.
Training Data Adds Another Layer of Exposure
Large language models (LLMs) are trained on massive datasets—some drawn from public archives, others from copyrighted or proprietary works. As recent legal disputes illustrate, rightsholders may claim that AI outputs unlawfully reproduce their protected content, even if unintentionally. Organizations deploying AI-assisted content could find themselves pulled into infringement claims despite good-faith use.
AI programs have created works that infringe on existing copyright protected works. Those instances occured when the user inputed a very specific request (i.e. Joker similar to the one in movies).
Protecting the Business: Contract Strategies
To reduce these risks, companies should update content-creation agreements to require:
• Disclosure
– Contractors must identify any use of AI in producing deliverables
• Human authorship
– A representation that a qualifying level of human creativity has been applied
• Non-infringement warranties
– Contractor guarantees that outputs do not infringe third-party rights
• Indemnification
– Responsibility shifts to contractor for violations tied to their AI use
• Ownership transfer
– Clear assignment of rights in all protectable elements
Additionally, companies should implement internal policies governing when and how generative AI tools may be used, including prohibiting the input of confidential or proprietary data into public AI platforms.
Takeaway
Generative AI presents enormous opportunities but introduces legal uncertainty in copyright ownership and infringement exposure. With thoughtful contracting and policy controls, businesses can benefit from AI-enhanced content creation while minimizing risk. The time to update agreements and safeguard intellectual property is now.
Stayed tuned. The legal issues regarding AI are continuing to evolve.
Eric D. Morton is the principal attorney at Clear Sky Law Group, P.C. He can be reached at 760-722-6582, 510-556-0367, and emorton@clearskylaw.com