Generative AI tools can be used to infringe on a copyright owner’s exclusive rights by producing derivatives. A number of copyright infringement lawsuits have been filed against AI platforms. Before entering any copyrighted material into a generative AI tool as part of a prompt, you need to get permission. Further, entering/uploading material such as articles you obtained from library subscribed databases to AI for assignment help may be a violation of copyright.

For example, this image was generated with the Canva AI tool when the prompt Minnie with red bow eating ice cream.

Currently, copyright protection is not granted to AI generated works. On July 31, 2024, the U.S. Copyright Office published Part 1 of the Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence which analyzes copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence.