If you use AI-generated code, you currently cannot claim copyright on it in the US. If you fail to disclose/disclaim exactly which parts were not written by a human, you forfeit your copyright claim on *the entire codebase*.
This means copyright notices and even licenses folks are putting on their vibe-coded GitHub repos are unenforceable. The AI-generated code, and possibly the whole project, becomes public domain.
Source: https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/LSB/PDF/LSB10922/LSB10922.8.pdf
![Excert from the linked document:
Three copyright registration denials highlighted by the Copyright Office illustrate that, in general, the office will not find human authorship where an AI program generates works in response to user prompts:
1. Zarya of the Dawn: A February 2023 decision that AI-generated illustrations for a graphic novel were not copyrightable, although the human-authored text of the novel and overall selection and arrangement of the images and text in the novel could be copyrighted.
2. Théâtre D’opéra Spatial: A September 2023 decision that an artwork generated by AI and then modified by the applicant could not be copyrighted, since the applicant failed to identify and disclaim the AI-generated portions of the work as required by the AI Guidance.
3. SURYAST: A December 2023 decision that an artwork generated by an AI system combining a “base image” (an original photo taken by the applicant) and a “style image” the applicant selected (Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night) could not be copyrighted, since the AI system was “responsible for determining how to interpolate [i.e., combine] the base and style images.”](https://uploads.zomglol.wtf/media_attachments/files/116/059/412/520/242/557/original/7177c68f88a00d30.png)