Illustration: AI
A human creative contribution is essential for someone to be recognised as the author of a work created with artificial intelligence. Kazakhstan’s Justice Minister Yerlan Sarsembayev explained this in an interview with Atameken Business Channel. He said sketches and revisions should be kept as evidence of authorship (kursiv.media).
How the minister explains the human role
Sarsembayev sees a neural network as a digital tool. The human develops the concept, sets tasks and changes the result. According to the minister, this involvement in creating a work is what allows someone to seek recognition as its author when registering it.
“Clearly, neural networks are essentially a digital tool… In any case, the intention, the concept, the idea remain with the person. They make adjustments, draw sketches, add things, set tasks for the neural network, right? And consequently, all these elements of human involvement allow them, when they come to register the work, to seek recognition as the author of that work,” he said.
This includes images and videos created using neural networks. The minister outlined two mandatory conditions for recognising authorship.
“Our position and starting point… is that, first, only a human can be an author, and second, authorship requires a human creative contribution to their work. Only then can we recognise their authorship,” Sarsembayev said.
Why you should keep sketches and revisions
The minister also described a situation in which someone gives a neural network a task, receives an image and applies to be recognised as its author. He said that when reviewing such an application, what matters is the person’s contribution during the creation of the work.
“Suppose they use artificial intelligence to submit a task and get an image, a work (of art – Kursiv), right? They then believe they have become an author too, submit an application to us and ask us to recognise them as the author… Current legislation provides an answer to this: a person’s contribution during the creation of a work is necessary and important,” he said.
According to Sarsembayev, keeping materials from the process will help demonstrate involvement in the work. The minister listed sketches, drawings and revisions: these need to be documented and kept as evidence of a creative contribution.
What this means for you
If you create works using AI, the minister says you should keep sketches, drawings and your own edits. These materials will help prove your creative contribution when registering copyright.
The Justice Ministry intends to develop requirements for the percentage of human involvement needed to qualify for copyright. The relevant amendments to intellectual property legislation are planned for 2027.
