Can artificial intelligent software that creates a fictional work legitimately have working copyrights?

As the coordinator of a think tank operating online, I hear all kinds of ideas about futuristic concepts and innovations. One of my favorite topics is artificial intelligence. It seems that ever since IBM’s “Watson” supercomputer won the Jeopardy Game against the greatest human winners of all time, people have taken artificial intelligence a little more seriously. And they should because it has come a long way. Now let me tell you what is happening on the artificial intelligence software front.

There are some people who are working on putting together an artificial intelligence computer that can create fictional novels, so good that you won’t be able to tell that they were created by a computer. How does it work, you ask? Well, the AI ​​computer has loaded all the potential character names, as well as all the genres, plots, stories, and works of fiction available anywhere online. Then it takes bits and pieces using derivative software by changing sentences by borrowing a phrase here and / or a phrase there, mixing it all up and creating a new story.

It is estimated that once this artificial intelligence computer software is completed, a supercomputer can create a fictional novel and less than a minute. And you can create unlimited variations and combinations. That is, once programming is finished, as many novels as have been created in human history can be produced in a very short time. Now keep in mind that there will be several of these supercomputers running the same program. And I assume that when each of these novels is completed, it will be saved and the computer will claim its copyright.

But in this case we have a legal problem, who is the owner of the copyright? It was created by an artificially intelligent computer, not a human, so does the computer own the copyright? Does the owner of the computer own the copyright? After all, copyright is claimed when someone (or something?) Puts a “c” with a little circle around it. In other words, copyright now belongs to the families of the deceased, the universities, and the authors still living. But in one fell swoop, this (or these) artificial intelligence computer will possess as many fictional stories as have been created in the history of mankind.

Now, I’d say that’s a game changer in the copyright arena. In fact, I would also say that this creates a huge dilemma for copyright law. We are in a new era of creativity and creative geniuses who are not human. Hope you can handle this concept and think about it. If this topic interests you, as much as it does me as a writer and think tank coordinator, why don’t you send me an email and we can discuss it.