Author questions if Library of Congress reply was AI-generated

Author Cecilia Tan publicly questioned whether the U.S. Library of Congress utilized artificial intelligence to generate a recent response regarding copyright protection. Writing on Bluesky on October 5, 2026, Tan expressed hope that a human employee drafted the message rather than an automated system. She emphasized the importance of maintaining strict boundaries around copyright enforcement and suggested that staff performing this work deserve higher compensation. The Library of Congress has not issued a statement confirming or denying the use of generative tools in its correspondence. This incident highlights growing tensions between authors and federal agencies over the potential automation of intellectual property administration. Critics argue that using AI to manage copyright inquiries creates an inherent conflict of interest for the nation's primary copyright office.