Every year on April 23rd, the Leatherby Libraries celebrates World Book and Copyright Day. Created by UNESCO in 1995, the day celebrates books, authors, and reading around the world. UNESCO also marks this occasion through its World Book Capital program, and Rabat, Morocco, has been named the 2026 World Book Capital.

World Book and Copyright Day also offers an opportunity to consider a question that arises more often in the age of artificial intelligence: when AI assists with writing, who is considered the author for copyright purposes?

A useful place to begin is with the idea of human creativity. Current guidance from the U.S. Copyright Office continues to treat human authorship as essential to copyright protection. AI can be a tool, but the human contribution still matters most. The key question is not simply whether AI was used, but how a person shaped the final work through their own creative choices.

That human role may appear through prompting, but also reflected in editing, rewriting, organizing, selecting, fact-checking, and adding original ideas. Those choices are part of the traditional creative process and may help show the level of human authorship involved in a work. These kinds of contributions also align with what the U.S. Copyright Office describes as creative selection, arrangement, or modification of material, which may demonstrate sufficient human authorship for copyright protection. By contrast, material generated entirely by AI with little or no meaningful human input faces clear limits under current copyright guidance.

World Book and Copyright Day reminds us that creativity is not only about making something new, but also about recognizing the people behind the work and giving credit where it is due. At the Leatherby Libraries, we connect these questions to larger conversations about reading, writing, research, and the ways ideas are created and shared. Even as tools like AI continue to change how people create, authorship and attribution remain just as important.

Happy World Book and Copyright Day!

Written By: Katherine Roth

Note: This post is for informational and educational purposes only and is not legal advice. For more information, consult the U.S. Copyright Office.