Is Your AI-Generated Marketing Content Legally Protected? Here’s What You Need to Know

Here’s What You Really Need To Know

AI is here. It’s fast, it’s prolific, and it’s rewriting the playbook for marketers…literally. From generating campaign copy to cranking out visuals in minutes, tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Jasper are transforming how we create. But before you put all that AI-generated brilliance out into the market, there’s one big question that should be blinking red on your legal radar:

Is any of this actually protected under copyright law?

Recently, I hosted a webinar on “How to Use AI in Marketing Without Infringement.” If you missed it, here’s the Cliffs notes: the law hasn’t caught up to the tech, and that gap is exactly where risk lives. 

So, before you AI anymore of your valuable IP, let’s break down what every marketer needs to understand now, because this isn’t just about legal theory, but protecting your brand.

First, the bad news: the law doesn’t recognize AI as an author

According to U.S. copyright law, a work must have “human authorship” to qualify for protection. That means if your AI tool did all the heavy lifting and you simply hit “publish,” that content isn’t protected. At all.

This was made clear in the Thaler v. Perlmutter case, where a federal judge ruled that AI-generated art, without meaningful human input, cannot be copyrighted. And that legal interpretation is quickly gaining traction globally.

Bottom line: No human input, no protection. And if there’s no copyright protection, anyone can copy, adapt, or profit off your content and there’s very little you can do about it.

Why this matters: misunderstanding the rules can cost you

We’re not just talking about theoretical risks. AI-generated content can expose your organization to real legal consequences if:

• It closely mimics someone else’s protected branding or design language
  
• The tools you use were trained on copyrighted material, raising IP questions about the output
  
• You can’t clearly document human involvement in the creative process
  

And here’s the kicker: if you don’t own the copyright, you also don’t own the exclusive rights. That means your competitors, or anyone, really, can reuse your AI-crafted language, ideas, tagline or visual without a second thought.

What you can do to protect your brand (and your content)

You don’t need to ban AI tools, but you do need to use them like the capable assistants they are, not as your final creative authority. I.e., treat AI as a co-author, not your ghostwriter. Here’s how to stay on the right side of the legal fine line:

1. Get hands-on and document human input
Save your prompts, edits, and decision logs. Think version control with an audit trail. This isn’t just for internal clarity, it’s your proof of authorship.

2. Vet your tools like you’d vet any vendor
Don’t assume “free” equals safe. Use AI platforms that are clear about their data sources and licensing terms. If the tool can’t say where its training data came from, think twice.

3. Build and enforce a real, strategic AI policy
Treat AI as you would any other legal & compliance process. Spell out which tools are approved, who’s reviewing text and visual outputs, and what the rules are for transparency and disclosure. Your policy should evolve as fast as the tech does, if not faster.

4. Label when needed: transparency builds trust
Especially in regulated industries, consider disclosing when content was AI-assisted. Your customers, and regulators will appreciate the honesty.

5. Loop in legal early…and often
Make legal and compliance part of the creative workflow. They can help vet tools, flag risks, and help craft a policy that actually works for your team, and your brand.

An AI-powered future is only powerful if it’s protected

Marketers love speed, and AI plays into that, seamlessly (if not flawlessly). But legal systems move a lot slower, and that lag creates a risk gap that leaves you vulnerable if you don’t plan for it.

So again, make AI your co-pilot, not your creator. Don’t just produce at scale, produce with purpose. Treat AI as your brainstorming buddy, keep humans in the loop, document their role, and you’ll create not just compelling content, but content you can defend. That’s how you build both impact and protection.

Need help setting up an AI policy or reviewing your content workflow for legal risks? Connect with me.