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US rejects AI copyright for famous state fair-winning Midjourney art
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
He's allowed to copyright it as a collage, just not claim ownership to the source images.
When you say a painting from a sketch, what do you mean? Is it a sketch from another artist? If so, you can still copyright the painting, you just can't claim ownership of the sketch, because you didn't make it.