Using AI to make a knockoff cat art of the "To Kill a Mockingbird" I saw in a NYC shop window

Hmmm my email notification that you made a new post have a link to nowhere lol. I will need to report the bug to myself.

Test for revenue sharing points.

This post is now ranking with Google Search. If you search the entire title, it pops up as #1 (obviously) but it's good to see that some Ai tags are ranking with Google already.

Wow - yes this post is ranked #1, right below this comprehensive warning:

AI Overview
Creating an AI-generated "knockoff" of the To Kill a Mockingbird cover, particularly for commercial use, carries significant legal risks of copyright infringement. The novel and its cover art are still under copyright protection, which will last until at least 2056.
Here is a breakdown of the copyright considerations:
Copyright Protection
Original Work: Harper Lee's novel and the specific artwork used on its covers are protected by copyright, meaning the author's estate and publishers hold exclusive rights to reproduce and create derivative works.
AI and Copyright: While you can use AI as a tool, if the resulting image is "substantially similar" to the original cover art, it would likely be considered an infringing derivative work.
Lack of AI Protection: Works generated purely by AI without significant human creative input are not eligible for U.S. copyright protection. This means you would have no legal recourse if someone else copied your AI-generated cat art.
Risks of Infringement
Selling the Art: Selling "knockoff" art for profit significantly increases the risk of a lawsuit from the copyright holders, who can sue for substantial damages.
Fair Use is Unlikely: The "fair use" defense, which allows limited use for purposes like commentary or parody, is a legal gray area and often doesn't apply if the new work competes with or acts as a market substitute for the original, which a "knockoff" might do.
AI Training Data: Many AI models are trained on vast datasets of copyrighted images found online. The resulting output can sometimes closely resemble the training data, leading to potential infringement issues regardless of the user's intent.
Legal and Ethical Alternatives
Instead of directly copying the existing cover, consider creating a parody or original art inspired by the novel's themes that is visually distinct enough to avoid copyright claims.
Focus on Themes: Use AI to generate an original image of a cat with common symbols associated with the book (e.g., a tree, a small town) without mimicking the specific composition, style, or elements of the official cover art.
Significant Human Input: If you use an AI to generate elements, you must add substantial human creativity and modification (e.g., editing, compositing, original artistic elements) to the image to potentially qualify for partial copyright protection on your contributions.
Seek Public Domain Works: Use AI to create art based on books that are in the public domain (works published before 1929 in the U.S.), eliminating copyright risk.
In summary, directly attempting to create a "knockoff" of a currently copyrighted work using AI is strongly discouraged due to potential legal consequences. It is safer and more ethical to create an original piece of art that uses the novel's ideas and themes rather than its protected expression.