In the lawsuit, Jason M. Allen asks a Colorado federal court to reverse the Copyright Office’s decision on his artwork Theatre D’opera Spatialbecause it was an expression of his creativity.
Reuters says the Copyright Office refused to comment on the case while Allen in a statement complains that the office’s decision “put me in a terrible position, with no recourse against others who are blatantly and repeatedly stealing my work.”
No, I'm arguing counter to your point about "control" being the lynchpin to copyrighting art. Control has nothing to do with it. What makes art is intent. I can throw paint at a wall all day, but if I'm only doing it because I don't like the wall, then it isn't art (though I accept that someone else may see it as art, but that's a different story...). When I have intent--when I throw the paint with a purpose to create something that is a reflection of some idea I have--then it becomes art. The same goes for AI generated art. I can type words into Midjourney and pictures come out. These pictures can be "artistic" but they are meaningless if there was no intent behind them. I, like the artist attempting to copyright their AI art, have created AI art with intent and purpose. We have created something of our own will as a reflection of an idea. How much control we have over the product is unimportant, what is important is that the final piece is a representation of our desire to convey something to you in a visual medium.