Reconceptualizing Human Authorship in the Age of Generative AI: A Normative Framework for Copyright Thresholds

Fernando A. Ramos-Zaga ()
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Fernando A. Ramos-Zaga: Escuela de Derecho, Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Políticas, Universidad Privada del Norte, Lima 15434, Peru

Laws, 2025, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-30

Abstract: The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has unsettled traditional legal conceptions of authorship and originality by challenging the foundational premise of copyright, namely, the requirement of human intervention as a precondition for protection. Such disruption exposes the anthropocentric limits of existing regulatory frameworks and underscores the absence of coherent, harmonized responses across jurisdictions. The study proposes a normative framework for determining the minimum threshold of human creativity necessary for works produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence to qualify for legal protection. Through comparative and doctrinal analysis, it advances the criterion of substantial creative direction, defined through three essential elements: effective control over the generative process, verifiable creative input, and identifiable expressive intent. On this basis, a graduated model of copyright protection is suggested, modulating the scope of rights according to the degree of human intervention and complemented by procedural reforms aimed at enabling its administrative implementation. The proposal seeks to reorient copyright toward an adaptive paradigm that safeguards technological innovation while preserving the centrality of human creativity as the normative foundation of the system, thereby ensuring a balanced relationship between regulatory flexibility and legal certainty.

Keywords: generative artificial intelligence; copyright; originality; authorship; intellectual property (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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