THE ‘PROMPTER’ AS AUTHOR: EVALUATING HUMAN CONTRIBUTION THRESHOLDS IN AI-ASSISTED CREATIVE WORKS

With the emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools, a once-in-a-lifetime issue with intellectual property has been thrown into a crisis: who, if anyone, is the 'author' of a work created with the help of AI? This article examines the legal position of the ‘prompter', the human who gives an AI system instructions via natural language, as a possible copyright author for the AI system, as it currently stands in the USA, UK, EU, and India. The article, which analyses key precedents and developing administrative law, points to the main gap in the doctrine of human authorship: the lack of a legally defined ‘human contribution threshold' that can distinguish between works created with AI assistance and AI-generated works that are not protectable. Based on comparative analysis, it offers a hierarchical authorship model, specific legislative changes and sui generis protection as remedies to fill the gap.