Guidelines by field
AI guidelines in art, music and writing what the field's own bodies ask
In the creative fields, rules come less from codes of conduct than from courts, union contracts, copyright offices and platforms. Together they draw a picture close to the Shared Ethic on this site: human authorship, consent, credit, pay and honest labels.
Last reviewed 27 October 2026. Every claim links to its source.
At a glance
Copyright protects human creativity
Prompts alone do not make you an author, but your own selection, arrangement or changes can be protected, and using AI as a tool does not disqualify a work.
Consent before cloning
A performer's voice or likeness may be replicated only with clear, specific consent and payment.
AI is not a writer
AI material cannot count as literary material, and writers cannot be forced to use AI.
License the training data
Where data is not licensed, courts disagree on whether training is lawful.
Label AI's role
Credit standards show where AI was used, and authors can certify human-written text.
Who has spoken
- Binding law, regulation, court ruling or enforceable professional rule
- Voluntary guidance, principles or a code an organization chooses to follow
Voluntary 2024 to 2025
US Copyright Office
Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Parts 1 to 3
Digital replicas, copyrightability and training. The Office's legal analysis guides registration but does not bind courts.
Binding 2025 to 2026
US courts
Thaler v. Perlmutter; Bartz v. Anthropic
Copyright needs a human author (the Supreme Court declined review in March 2026). In Bartz, training on lawfully acquired books was ruled fair use while downloading pirated copies was not, followed by a $1.5 billion settlement. Anthropic makes Claude, the assistant that helped build this site.
Binding Nov 2025
Munich Regional Court
GEMA v OpenAI
A model that memorized and reproduced song lyrics infringed copyright. Not yet final.
Binding 2023
Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA
2023 contracts
AI is not a writer; digital replicas of performers need consent and pay. Union contracts bind the studios that signed them.
Binding In force Jul 2024
State of Tennessee
ELVIS Act
Protects a person's voice and likeness from unauthorized AI imitation.
Voluntary 2025 to 2026
Authors Guild; Fairly Trained
Human Authored certification; Licensed Model certification
One certifies human-written books; the other certifies AI companies that train only on licensed or owned data.
Binding Oct and Nov 2025
Record labels and AI music services
Settlements with Udio and Suno
Lawsuits turned into licensing deals promising licensed models that pay artists.
The centrality of human creativity to copyright.
Binding and voluntary
Binding
Copyright law and court rulings, which differ by country; union contracts; state publicity laws such as the ELVIS Act; and platform terms for uploaders.
Voluntary
Fairly Trained and Authors Guild certifications; the Copyright Office's reports.
What changed in 2025 and 2026
- The US Copyright Office finished its three-part analysis, and the human-authorship rule held when the Supreme Court declined Thaler in March 2026.
- Litigation moved toward licensing: a record $1.5 billion settlement for authors and label settlements with AI music services.
- The UK stepped back from a broad training exception in March 2026.
Where people still disagree
Courts disagree on unlicensed training. In the US, training on lawfully acquired books was ruled fair use; in Germany, a model's memorized lyrics were ruled infringing. Neither is the last word.
Questions to ask yourself
- Could I describe exactly what I made and what the AI made, in a way that would satisfy the Copyright Office?
- Did anyone whose voice, likeness or style is recognizable here agree to it?
- Do I know how the tool I am using got its training data?
How this lines up with my everyday guidelines
| My everyday guidelines | The field's nearest rule |
|---|---|
2. Practice transparent collaboration Own all outputs that carry your name or business reputation. | Copyright protects the human contribution, not the prompt alone (US Copyright Office). |
4. Use for good Never use AI to deceive, manipulate or harm others. | Consent before cloning a voice or likeness (SAG-AFTRA; ELVIS Act). |
The Shared Ethic: Credit and pay; Say how it was made. | License training data, pay the people whose work trained the systems, and label AI's role (Fairly Trained; label settlements; AI credits). These are in the Shared Ethic rather than my everyday guidelines. |