What happened
The US Supreme Court declined on March 2, 2026, to hear computer scientist Stephen Thaler's appeal, upholding lower court rulings that AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted. Thaler sought copyright for "A Recent Entrance to Paradise," an image created by his AI system, DABUS, with his 2018 application rejected by the US Copyright Office in 2019 and reaffirmed in 2022. US District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell upheld this in 2023, declaring "human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright," a decision a federal appeals court affirmed in 2025.
Why it matters
This decision solidifies human authorship as a fundamental requirement for copyright protection, directly impacting creators, legal teams, and IP strategists. Content generated solely by AI, without demonstrable human creative input, remains ineligible for intellectual property rights. This mechanism limits the scope of protectable AI outputs, compelling development teams to ensure significant human contribution in creative processes. Procurement teams must recognise that fully autonomous AI-generated assets carry no inherent copyright. This follows similar rulings by the US Patent Office, which also requires human inventorship for patents.
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