Eliza is a global nomad working as an Advisor for Innovation Ecosystem Development at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi.|
She is also an attorney with over 15 years experience in patent law as a patent examiner, patent agent, and patent attorney and over 6 years experience in government and academic research.
Guest Author: Eliza Stefaniw
By now you have probably experimented with generative AI like ChatGPT and MidJourney. You may even be using AI tools to help generate contact for self-promotion or work tasks.
However, do you actually own the content you’ve created using generative AI tools?
For most written and artistic work you create, you are the automatic copyright owner, unless you have been hired to produce the work for someone else. However, copyright law assumes, in most cases, a human author. As usual, copyright law lags behind the technical progress.
Most countries, including Singapore, require a human author. But there is a possibility for human authors to be granted copyright in works created with AI assistance, as long as you supply the intellectual creativity for the final work.
In addition, in Singapore, sound-recordings and films are “non-authorial works” and the person or company who owns the first recording and the person or company who makes the arrangements for the film own these types of works.
Ownership of the first recording may be determined by the terms of use of the particular generative AI tool. Similarly, it is likely that if you prompt an AI tool to make a film, you would be considered the owner of copyright in the AI-generated film.
However, copyright in the individual components of the sound-recordings or film may still not exist under Singapore law.
Like many countries, Singapore is considering how to appropriately provide for AI and AI-generated content, whether it is through copyright law, allowing private parties to settle ownership by contract, i.e. through Terms of Use, or creating a new form of intellectual property.
Until then, read the terms and conditions and be aware that your AI-assisted creations may not have the copyright protection you’d usually expect.
