[keiferski]

One question that is unclear to me is how this works if images are packaged with text or other content. For example; let’s say I write a book and then use AI images to illustrate it. It doesn’t seem logical to me that somehow the book would be copyrighted but the images inside the book wouldn’t be…? At some level, the “package” of images + text would supersede the two things separately. Otherwise you would have a situation where sharing the book is a copyright violation but sharing the images inside of it isn’t.

[rcxdude]

There's nothing particularly contradictory about that: there's already situations where that is the case. For example when a book contains images which are public domain, or where elements of the book like the facts within it are not copyrightable. Another interesting one is tabletop game manuals: the layout and presentation of the rules are copyrightable, but the game mechanics generally aren't. So you can make a book which just contains the rules and not be infringing copyright. Using AI-generated images would be exactly the same situation.

[keiferski]

I'm envisioning more of a situation where a company adds text directly to AI-generated images, or otherwise somehow modifies them that prevents them from just being generic images, in the way public domain images are. I really don't think companies will just add images straight-from-the-generator without modifying them in such a way that prevents their easy re-use.