ABSTRACT:
Artificial Intelligence has evolved and their evolution referred to content creation, introducing complex legal challenges surrounding copyright protection, ownership rights, and liability concerns. This article talks into the intersection of AI and Copyright law, assessing current legal frameworks, judicial prouncements and ongoing legislative developments. It analysis the critical issues such as determining authorship for AI generated works and studying infringement risks and navigating fair use principles. Further this paper also examines potential legal reforms designed to align copyright law with evolving technology with special reference in creative industries. Taking inspiration from across the jurisdiction have proffered a stance regarding the evolution of the technology into their legal regimes, this paper endeavour to contemplate the possibility of assigning ownership to the AI technology in the Indian legal framework. It should be taken into considerations that Artificial Intelligence has been used as a broad category and the author intends to discuss upon the specific forms of the technology, being fair use, AI generated work, Emerging legislation and legal Precedents and others. The author also discusses the traditional Indian Copyright Laws and possibility of incorporation of evolved technology and their impacts on the authors and creators. The study aims to examine the legal and ethical foundation that regulate AI generated content, explore the complexities of assigning the autonomous AI systems, and propose strategies to enhance accountability while fostering the ethical and responsible use of AI in the today’s world.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Fair Use, Legislation, AI generated content, Copyright Law
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence is a specialized field within computer science focused on developing system capable of mimicking human intelligence and problem-solving skills. These systems analysis vast amounts of data, learn from past experience and it continuously refine their performance over time. Unlike traditional computer programs, which rely on human input to correct errors and enhance functionality, AI systems are designed to adapt and improve autonomously[1]. The concept of Artificial Intelligence has roots that stretch back thousands of years, originating with ancient philosophers who pondered the nature of life and consciousness. Early inventors created “automatons”, mechanical devices that could operate independently of human control. The term “automation” comes from the ancient Greek word meaning “acting of one’s own will.” One of the earliest known examples dates to around 400 BCE and describes a mechanical pigeon built by a companion of the philosopher Plato[2].
Centuries later Leonardo da Vinci designed one of the most renowned automatons around 1495. While the notion of self-operating machines is ancient, this article will focus on developments in the 20th century, when scientists and engineers began laying the groundwork for the advanced AI system[3]. Basically, AI is a technology that enable system to mimic the thought processes. Al relies on algorithms to process and creating models that allow computers to perform various tasks such as recommending music, providing or translating text between languages. Common examples of AI are ChatGPT, Google Translate and many others. Artificial Intelligence is a multidisciplinary field of science and engineering focused on the theory and practice of creating system that demonstrate traits of human intelligence. These traits include perception and also mainly ability to respond to environmental changes.
From a scientific perspective, AI seeks to uncover the fundamental principles that underlye intelligent behaviour in human, animals and artificial systems. This foundational understanding drives a range of technical objectives, such as development of intelligent agents, the formalization of knowledge and automation of reasoning across various domain of human activity. A key goal is to make human computer interaction as natural and intuitive as human-to-human interaction, for instance, by designing human machine systems that leverage the complementary strengths of human and machine reasoning[4].
It solely focuses on several aspects of artificial intelligence; AI is a field that combines science and engineering to create intelligent devices such as computer programmes. Computer may also be used for this purpose. AI in research has built upon the tools and techniques of many different disciplines including formal logic, probability theory, decision theory, and also other advantage and disadvantage of Artificial intelligence[5]. In recent years, the world has witnessed the emergence of creative works produced by artificial intelligence. As AI technology advances to the point where machines can autonomously generate content, it raises complex and often ambiguous questions under copyright law.
One of the most debated issues is whether an AI system- or an intelligent agent- can be recognized as an “author”. The question of authorship is of serious concerns and also the question of duration of copyright protection and the moral rights typically granted to authors are of great concern. For example, in Malaysia, copyright in literary, artistic and musical works lasts for the time and plus fifty years after his death. If AI were to be legally recognized as the author of such a work, it raises unsettling questions and possibility of perpetual copyright protection, unlike a human, does not die in the conventional sense. This article examines the authorship issues raised by AI developments by combination of twoapproaches: a pragmatic approach by examining whether an intelligent agent can be taken as an author under the copyright law as it is; and a theoretical approach by asking question whether an intelligent agent should be regarded as an author or not under the Copyright Law[6].
If an AI generated work is not protected under copyright law, can anyone own it? Some argue that the person who developed the AI or provided the input should be considered the owner. In countries like the UK, current law allows copyright in computer-generated works, with the ‘author’ defined as the person who made the arrangements necessary for the creation.
[1]https://www.tableau.com/data-insights/ai/history#definition
[2]ibid
[3]ibid
[4]https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRFH06122.pdf
[5]ibid
[6]https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/colloquium_papers_e/2018/chapter_13_2018_e.pdf