Fact · Voice and AI
The US Copyright Office concludes that, on current technology, prompts alone do not give a user enough control over an AI output to make that user its author.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“Based on the functioning of current generally available technology, prompts do not alone provide sufficient control.”
Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability, United States Copyright Office, U.S. Copyright Office, 2025, Executive summary, conclusions.
Open the original- What it measures
- The Office separates giving instructions to an AI system from shaping the expressive elements yourself. It says that editing tools which let a user choose and place individual elements can give more control.
- What it does not show
- The conclusion depends on the technology in use in 2025, and the Office says it will keep monitoring the question. It is about generated output, not about your own words that a tool later cleans up.