All guides

Can you copyright something made with AI?

Updated November 13, 2026

Short answer: the U.S. Copyright Office registers only what a person created. What an AI tool generated on its own is not covered. What you made yourself still is.

Made entirely by AI

If you typed a prompt and the AI produced the picture, song or text, the Office will not register it. In its view, writing a prompt is not the same as creating the work. Copyright Man does not sell a packet for work like this, because the government fee would be wasted.

Made partly with AI

Many works are a mix. You wrote the lyrics and AI made the music. You wrote the story and AI drew the pictures. You can register the parts you made. The application has to say which parts were made by AI, and those parts are left out of the claim. If you hide the AI-made parts, the registration can be cancelled later.

AI used as a tool

Using software to fix spelling, clean up audio or sharpen a photo of your own work is different. That is not AI making the work, and it normally does not need to be mentioned.

What to have ready

• A plain description of what you made yourself, such as "I wrote all the lyrics" or "I drew the characters."
• A plain description of what the AI made, such as "the background music."

Source: the U.S. Copyright Office's Copyright and Artificial Intelligence pages and its registration guidance for works that contain AI-generated material.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Copyright Man is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. We prepare your filing; you file it yourself on the U.S. Copyright Office website. The Copyright Office, not Copyright Man, decides whether to register a work. Fees and rules are set by the U.S. Copyright Office and can change. Its website, copyright.gov, has the current ones.