The Human Cause

Abstract

This paper argues that, although AI machines are increasingly able to produce outputs that facially qualify for copyright or patent protection, such outputs should not be protected by law when they have no identifiable human cause, that is, when the autonomy of the machine is such that it breaks the causal link between the output and one or more human creators or inventors. As a species, normatively we should seek to preserve incentives for human creativity and inventiveness, as these have been hallmarks of the higher mental faculties often used to define humanness. The paper also discussed situation where human and machines work together and how courts can apply the proposed approach.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, intellectual property, creativity, inventiveness, patent, copyright, causality

JEL Classification: K00, K29, O31, O33, O34, Z11