Jason Allen says he entered 624 meticulously-crafted prompts into AI image generator Midjourney to create Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, French for “space opera theater,” a depiction of a futuristic royal court.
Two years ago, board game designer Jason Allen became fascinated with AI-generated images of surreal landscapes popping up on his Facebook feed and started experimenting with text-to-image AI programs himself. In May, he spent more than 100 hours instructing image generator Midjourney to create an elaborate illustration of women donning Victorian dresses and space helmets and attending a futuristic royal court. The image went on to win first prize in the Colorado State Fair for digitally manipulated photography a few months later.
But when he tried to copyright the image, the U.S. Copyright Office denied his application, saying that the work lacked “human authorship,” and that it wasn’t able to determine whether the prompts were “sufficiently creative.”
It was a slap in the face for Allen, who wrote 624 different text-based prompts to encourage Midjourney’s software to produce what he wanted, adjusting the style, composition, colors and tone of the image.
“It was hard to get the type of completions that I was looking for at the time using version two of Midjourney,” he told Forbes, adding: “There was a lot that went into it.”
Now, he is suing the agency and asking a federal court to reverse the Copyright Office’s decision.
The Copyright Office declined to comment on pending litigation. Midjourney did not respond to a comment request, but its website states that artists own all the images they create and can use them however they like. Its terms of service explicitly state that the........