How might the legal landscape evolve in the future to accommodate the increasing use of AI in content creation?

Some potential alternative strategies for protecting the intellectual property of works created with AI tools could include:

1. Patenting the AI technology itself, which would give the owner exclusive rights to use and license the technology.

2. Using trade secret laws to protect the proprietary aspects of the AI technology. This would involve keeping the details of the technology confidential.

3. Implementing contractual agreements that specify the ownership and usage rights of the AI-generated works.

4. Lobbying for changes in copyright laws to recognize AI-generated works as original works of authorship.

5. Using digital rights management (DRM) systems to control the use, modification, and distribution of the AI-generated works.

Global companies like Google or Apple can navigate the copyright issues surrounding the use of AI tools by ensuring that the AI-generated works are a result of human creative choices. This is because, as per current copyright laws, a work is considered in the public domain if it does not reflect the free and creative choices of the author. Therefore, these companies should ensure that humans who use AI as a tool are protected by copyright as the owner. For AI tools where a human enters a text prompt to create an image, they should ensure that these qualify as original works of authorship and can be copyrighted.