The US Copyright Office (USCO) has changed its mind about including the Zarya of the Dawn comic strip in the copyright register, which artist Kristina Kashtanova created using the Midjourney neural network. The Agency has launched a procedure to cancel the registration decision.
Kashtanova registered the comic in the register of copyright objects in September 2022. As the American media wrote at the time, Zarya of the Dawn was the first such comic book approved by the USCO.
Now the USCO has announced that it can recognize only works made by people as the object of copyright. The agency explained that initially it did not notice that Midjourney was used when creating the comic, although the name of the neural network is indicated on the cover of the comic.
The USCO’s position on this issue is important, including for game developers. Neural network capabilities are one of the most discussed topics in the industry today.