AI0-001 AI Governance and Ethics Practice Question
A company uses an AI system to generate marketing images. They are concerned about copyright ownership of the generated content. According to current US copyright law, who typically owns the copyright for AI-generated work?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is assuming the prompt author or the AI company automatically owns the output; the key legal principle is that copyright requires human authorship, so purely AI-generated works may have no owner.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
No one; the work may be in the public domain
Under current US copyright law and US Copyright Office guidance, copyright protection requires human authorship. Works generated entirely by AI without sufficient human creative input are not copyrightable and effectively fall into the public domain, meaning no one owns the copyright.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
No one; the work may be in the public domain
Why this is correct
US copyright law requires human authorship, so purely AI-generated images lack a protectable author. The work therefore falls into the public domain, meaning no party holds copyright, which is the position the scenario's ownership concern must account for.
- ✗
The user who provided the input prompts
Why it's wrong here
Prompts are not authorship; US copyright requires human creative expression fixed in the output, and courts have held prompt-only input insufficient for registration. It is tempting because the user directs the generation, and would be correct where a human substantially selects and arranges the resulting expression.
- ✗
The AI system itself, as the creator
Why it's wrong here
US copyright law protects only works created by humans; the Copyright Office has stated that AI-generated content lacking human authorship cannot be registered, so the system owns nothing. It is tempting because the system produces the image, and would be correct only if non-human creators could hold rights.
- ✗
The company that owns the AI model
Why it's wrong here
Owning the model confers no authorship of its outputs; US copyright requires human authorship, so the model owner holds no rights in generated images. It is tempting because the company built and operates the system, and would be correct for owning the software's own code and weights.
About these practice questions
This AI0-001 question is part of Courseiva's 962-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This AI0-001 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AI0-001 exam.