The Copyright Office serves a vital function in the creative industries by administering the country’s copyright laws and by providing guidance to Congress on copyright issues. The Graphic Artists Guild is engaged in ongoing communication with the Office, representing the concerns of graphic artists through in person meetings, participation in Copyright Office roundtables, and responding to the Office’s requests for comments from stakeholders on copyright issues.

Since 2020, the Copyright Office has been weighing in on the copyright concerns raised by AI and by generative AI. In its statements and guidance, the Office has continued its long-standing position that copyright can only protect work that is the product of “human creativity”. The Office’s actions have included letters to Congress, roundtable discussions with stakeholders (the Guild participated in the roundtable for visual artists), and resources for stakeholders such as blog articles and webinars, and symposia. The Office also provided crucial guidance for copyright holders on the registration of works containing generative AI materials.

In 2023, the Copyright Office solicited responses from stakeholders to a broad inquiry on the copyright issues raised by generative AI, the Artificial Intelligence Survey. The Guild responded with a lengthy comment letter raising concerns with the wholesale taking of artists’ works for machine learning. The Office released the results of that study in three parts: Part 1: Digital Replicas, Part 2: Copyrightability, and Part 3: Generative AI (pre-publication report). The Guild was gratified to see that our comment letter was widely cited in the footnotes of Parts 2 and 3, indicating that our concerns on behalf of graphic artists are recognized.

Graphic artists are encouraged to stay abreast of the Copyright Office’s guidance on generative AI. The Office’s portal on generative AI contains links to their reports, actions and decisions.