Many agencies now use AI tools to draft, edit or illustrate white-label products for clients. That raises a practical question clients will eventually ask: can they own and register the result? The US Copyright Office has published guidance that helps answer it in general terms.
What the Copyright Office Has Concluded
In Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 2: Copyrightability, published in January 2025, the Office concluded that:
- Human authorship is still required. Material generated entirely by AI is not protected by copyright.
- With currently available technology, prompts alone do not give a user enough control to be the author of the output.
- Using AI as a tool to assist human creativity does not reduce protection for the human contribution.
- Human selection, arrangement or modification of AI output can be protected, but the underlying AI-generated material is not.
- Decisions are made case by case, based on how each work was created.
What Registration Requires
The Office’s registration guidance for works containing AI-generated material, effective March 16, 2023, asks applicants to disclose AI-generated content that is more than minimal, exclude it from the claim and briefly describe the human author’s contribution. It also says an AI tool should not be listed as an author.
What This Means for White-Label Client Work
- Keep records of which sections were written or substantially edited by people and which were generated with AI.
- Be accurate with clients. Avoid promising that every part of a deliverable can be registered or is fully protected if parts were AI-generated.
- Add human value deliberately: original sections, examples, structure and design choices are where protectable authorship is most likely to sit.
- Check your source license. Some white-label licenses address AI-generated content or AI editing; read those terms alongside the Office’s guidance.
- Put it in the handoff notes. A short line such as “Sections 2 and 5 were drafted with an AI tool and then edited; all examples and worksheets were written by our team” gives the client what they would need if they later decide to register the work.
Clients who plan to register a product, or to sell it under an exclusive license, benefit most from this transparency, because the registration application asks for exactly this kind of information.
The Copyright Office continues to publish material on its Copyright and Artificial Intelligence page, so check it for updates.
This is general information about US copyright, not legal advice. Ask a qualified attorney about registration or ownership questions for a specific product.
More White-Label Guides
- Copyright and Trademark Basics for White-Label Buyers
- How to Read a PLR or White-Label License: A Clause-by-Clause Checklist