HLS Beyond presents: Who Owns AI-Created Works? Copyright After Thaler v. Perlmutter

Generative AI can produce striking images and polished text in seconds, but copyright still turns on a basic question: Did a human author do enough? At this fireside chat-style discussion, Professors Bavitz and Tushnet will use the Supreme Court’s recent cert denial in Thaler v. Perlmutter to explore the doctrine of human authorship and originality and how those requirements apply to AI-assisted outputs. They’ll unpack what Thaler held (and what the cert denial does not resolve), and map the core legal arguments about whether a “prompter” can ever qualify as an author, what kinds of human contributions might support protection, and what questions remain open for courts, the Copyright Office, and Congress. Registration Required. Lunch will be provided.