Yes. New Zealand is one of a small number of countries whose law expressly protects computer-generated works. The Copyright Act 1994 defines a work as “computer-generated” where it is generated by computer in circumstances such that there is no human author of the work — and then provides an author for it anyway.

This is unusual. The United States requires human authorship, and the US Copyright Office has refused registration for works created without it. The United Kingdom and most other jurisdictions take a similar line. New Zealand does not.

What this means commercially

• Output generated here can attract copyright protection, where the identical output generated under US law may attract none.
• Protection is automatic on creation. There is no registration step in New Zealand.
• The term for a computer-generated work is 50 years from creation. An extension to copyright terms has been announced but is not in force, and the 50-year term is the one that applies today.

Two cautions

First, “no human author” is doing real work in the definition. Where a person’s creative input is substantial, the work may simply be an ordinary authored work rather than a computer-generated one, with a different author and a different term.

Second, this settles whether copyright exists. It does not settle who owns it, which is a separate question with a separate answer — see Who owns copyright in AI-generated work in New Zealand?

What is still unresolved

The government’s May and June 2026 copyright announcements expressly did not address generative AI. Cabinet has asked for a report on whether a further legislative response is needed by 31 March 2027. Current law stands until then.

Last verified: 16 August 2026. Sources: Copyright Act 1994 s2, s5(2)(a); Bell Gully; MBIE.