Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2020
Abstract
In The AI Author in Litigation, Yvette Joy Liebesman and Julie Cromer Young examine whether an autonomous, emancipated artificial intelligence (AI) can meaningfully function as an “author” under the Copyright Act when subjected to the procedural realities of litigation. Moving beyond doctrinal debates over originality and creativity, the Article focuses on the practical and constitutional barriers that arise if an AI is treated as a legal author capable of suing or being sued. The authors analyze challenges involving personal jurisdiction, service of process, standing, discovery, due process, and the availability of remedies such as damages and injunctions. They argue that even if an AI could theoretically satisfy substantive requirements for authorship, serious procedural obstacles—particularly those related to liability, enforceability, and representation—undermine the feasibility of recognizing AI as a litigating copyright owner or defendant. The Article concludes that existing civil procedure frameworks are ill-equipped to accommodate AI parties, providing a strong prudential argument for limiting copyright authorship to humans or human-controlled entities unless and until procedural law evolves.
Recommended Citation
Yvette Joy Liebesman & Julie Cromer Young, The AI Author in Litigation, 69 U. Kan. L. Rev. 103 (November 2020).
