Re: AI-generated code uncopyrightable in the US
Anna Vyalkova <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.linux.gentoo.devel |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
On 2026-04-04, Alexis wrote: > > Hi all, > > In reviewing the recent "Dealing with (potential) slop packages" > thread: > > https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-dev/[email protected]/T/#t > > there was discussion about the possibility of gen AI possibly > violating others' copyright, but not - as far as i can tell - any > discussion about the fact that, in the US at least, AI-generated > code is not copyrightable, as per this post by Chiitoo on the > forums: > > https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=8880011#p8880011 > > Chiitoo quotes a post by Jamie Gaskins on Mastodon, which was > itself shared by Greg K-H: > >> If you use AI-generated code, you currently cannot claim >> copyright on >> it in the US. If you fail to disclose/disclaim exactly which >> parts >> were not written by a human, you forfeit your copyright claim on >> *the >> entire codebase*. >> >> This means copyright notices and even licenses folks are putting >> on >> their vibe-coded GitHub repos are unenforceable. The >> AI-generated >> code, and possibly the whole project, becomes public domain. >> >> Source: >> https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/LSB/PDF/LSB10922/LSB10922.8.pdf > > Have there been any discussions elsewhere in the Gentoo project > about this, given that copyright is the basis for various types of > licensing (e.g. permissive and copyleft licenses)? Are there other > jurisdictions which also regard AI-generated code as > uncopyrightable? Is the use of AI-generated code simply so > widespread at this point (e.g. as claimed by > https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware) that trying to sort > out the situation re. copyright and licensing is well beyond the > capacity of both Gentoo in general and of package maintainers in > particular? The basis for copyright law in most countries is the Berne Convention. There's an agency within the United Nations, the World Intellectual Property Organization, administrating international intellectual property treaties. Here's what it says on generative AI: https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4713 I think it answers some of your questions.