# U.S. Copyright Office Launches Its AI Initiative

- Date: 2023-03-16
- Type: news
- Credit: U.S. Copyright Office
- URL: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/usco-ai-initiative

The Copyright Office formally opens a multi-year initiative to study the copyright implications of generative AI — registration of AI-assisted works, training data, digital replicas, and authorship. The Office issues a registration guidance the same day clarifying that material produced by generative AI is not on its own copyrightable. This becomes the legal spine that every later U.S. policy moment — Part 1 on digital replicas, Part 2 on copyrightability — hangs from, and the reference point every AI filmmaker eventually has to read.

Links:
- USCO AI Initiative: https://www.copyright.gov/ai/
- Federal Register Registration Guidance: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/03/16/2023-05321/copyright-registration-guidance-works-containing-material-generated-by-artificial-intelligence

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Source: https://aifilmhistory.org/entry/usco-ai-initiative
Era: 2023 · The Cambrian Explosion
Last updated: 2026-09-12