Who owns AI generated content?

 –According to OpenAI’s ChatGPT:

“The copyright of AI generated materials depends on the specific laws of each country. In many cases, the copyright is owned by the person or entity that created the AI system or commissioned its creation. However, this can also vary depending on the specific circumstances and use of the AI-generated materials. In some cases, the copyright may be owned by the person who contributed the data or information used by the AI system to generate the materials. It is advisable to seek legal advice to determine the specific ownership and copyright status of AI generated materials.” —OpenAI ChatGPT (Feb 3, 2023 at 4:00pm EST)

So as with many new technologies the answer is unclear.  As the AI mentions the owner could vary.  If the content the AI used to produce the response was copyrighted, there may be claims by the original author, if the AI combined enough information so there is no clear indication of who the original author was, then maybe the AI company can claim the copyright.  It is also possible that if the input prompt to the AI was unique enough and specified the parameters that the questioner could own a portion of the copyright.

In the U.S at least there are still questions as to to who if anyone can copyright an AI generated work.  As it is generally held that  in order for works to be copyright protected they must be human generated.  AI works are far from human generated, other than the humans who developed the AI and the users who put in the prompts.  We still have the question of who can claim the copyright if anyone. 

So, the AI did get one thing right, it is always best to seek legal advice when you have questions about specific cases of IP utilization and what is required.