The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is drafting guidelines for registering works created with artificial intelligence, drawing a line between AI used as a creative tool and content generated without sufficient human authorship.
The proposed Guidelines on the Registrability of AI Systems and AI-Related Works would allow copyright registration for original human expression in works created with the help of AI. Purely AI-generated material, however, would not qualify simply because a person prompted the system.
IPOPHL said the framework covers several ways AI can be involved in creative work.
An AI-assisted work could involve a writer using AI to suggest wording or organize a manuscript before selecting, rewriting and arranging the material. The writer’s original contribution could be protected.
An AI-enhanced work, meanwhile, starts with human-created material that is later modified using AI. IPOPHL cited photographers using AI to remove objects or restore parts of an image as an example.
The draft also recognizes hybrid works containing both human-authored and AI-generated elements. A songwriter, for example, could write lyrics while an AI system generates the melody. Copyright could cover the qualifying human-created portion without extending protection to otherwise unprotectable AI output.
There would be no fixed threshold for how much human involvement is required. IPOPHL would instead assess factors such as the creator’s contribution, the AI system’s role, and how generated material was selected, modified or arranged.
The proposal concerns copyright registration, not whether copyright exists in the first place. Under Philippine law, qualifying original literary and artistic works are protected from the moment they are created, while registration provides an official record of the claim.
The guidelines also would not resolve whether using copyrighted material to train AI systems is lawful or constitutes fair use. IPOPHL said that issue is separate from determining whether an AI-related work can be registered.
The rules remain in draft form and are being refined following consultations with government, legal and academic groups, creative industries, technology companies and the public.