A recent federal court decision confirmed the position of the Copyright Office that elements of works created by artificial intelligence ("AI Elements") are not protected by copyright. This article discusses what this decision means (and doesn't mean) for Hollywood.

The lack of copyright protection for AI Elements is critical to Hollywood, since AI Elements may include all or portions of the screenplay, music, characters, and visuals for a film. Indeed, it will not be long before AI creates entire feature-length films. Given that AI Elements are not protected by copyright, they will fall into the public domain, and anyone can use them. They can't even be protected by state law except against someone who contractually agrees not to use them (more on this below).

Here are some issues the decision won't change:

Next, let's look at what is likely to happen as a practical matter: