India – Can AI Be An Author? Indian Copyright Office Clarifies The Position In The Dabus Case.

The Indian Copyright Office's decision did not reject the artwork "A Recent Entrance to Paradise" simply because AI generated it. This indicates that AI-generated works can meet the originality standard under Section 13 of the Copyright Act, which requires independent creation and a minimum degree of creativity. This approach suggests that the method of creation does not automatically disqualify a work from copyright protection.

A key issue is interpreting Section 2(d)(vi) of the Copyright Act, 1957, which designates the author of computer-generated works as "the person who causes the work to be created." This provision, introduced before generative AI, now requires careful application to modern systems. The Dabus case highlights the challenge of defining human contribution when an AI system, lacking legal personality, is identified as the author, and the human applicant is named as the owner.

Dr. Stephen L. Thaler, the applicant, stated that DABUS generated the artwork without real-time human intervention or text prompts. However, Dr. Thaler also designed and configured the system, supplied visual inputs, and curated linguistic material. This demonstrates the complexity in determining who truly "causes the work to be created" when human design and AI autonomy both play roles in the final output.