Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Part 1: Digital Replicas July 2024

• Authority: Copyright Office, Library of Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: Miscellaneous documents
• Most recent activity: Enacted
• Most recent activity date: 2024-07-31

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation
• Governance failure

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Compromise of privacy
• False or misleading information
• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Economic and cultural devaluation of human effort
• Lack of transparency or interpretability

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has good coverage of approximately 4-5 subdomains, with strong focus on fraud and manipulation (4.3), privacy compromise (2.1), lack of transparency (7.4), and governance failure (6.5). Coverage is concentrated in malicious actors, privacy, and governance domains.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Information
• Arts, Entertainment & Recreation

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Professional & Technical Services
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This document governs AI use across multiple sectors where digital replicas could be created and distributed, with particular relevance to Information (technology platforms and OSPs), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (where image and voice replicas are commonly used), and potentially Professional and Technical Services. The governance applies broadly to any sector where generative AI tools are used to create unauthorized digital replicas.

Legislative Status

Soft Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a non-binding recommendation from the Copyright Office to Congress, using advisory language ('recommend', 'should') without enforcement mechanisms or legal obligations.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Copyright Office, Library of Congress
• Summary: The Copyright Office is explicitly identified as the author and proposer of these recommendations to Congress, as stated in the document title and conclusion.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer
• Summary: The document targets those who create and distribute unauthorized digital replicas using generative AI tools, which would include both AI developers creating such tools and deployers/users distributing unauthorized replicas.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Congress; courts
• Summary: The document recommends that Congress establish the federal right and references courts as part of the enforcement framework, with remedies including monetary damages and injunctive relief that would be enforced through judicial processes.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Copyright Office
• Summary: The Copyright Office positions itself as an ongoing resource for monitoring and advising on implementation and future developments related to digital replica protection.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily focuses on the Deploy and Operate and Monitor stages, addressing the distribution and ongoing management of AI-generated digital replicas. It does not substantially cover earlier stages like planning, data collection, or model building.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• Generative AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions generative AI tools and digital replicas but does not define or distinguish between AI models, AI systems, or specific categories like frontier AI, GPAI, or foundation models. No compute thresholds or open-weight models are mentioned.