AI in the Music Industry – Teil 15: Is AI a Creator?

In 2017, something revolutionary happened, and yet hardly anyone took notice. In March of this year, the Luxembourg branch of the world’s oldest music collecting society, the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM), for the first time recognised an AI as an author and registered the musical works it produced for use. This is an unprecedented process, as it was previously legally undisputed that only natural persons, i.e. humans, could produce intellectual creations within the meaning of copyright law. This part of the series therefore examines whether AI can be regarded as an intellectual creator under existing copyright law, and what conditions would have to be met for it to be recognised as such.