AI-driven media production and copyright: Implications for value creation in the media industry

Abstract

This paper examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the media industry with particular consideration of copyright and its implications for media-related value creation. While AI is increasingly applied across journalism, music production, and film and television production, its growing role in creative processes raises unresolved questions concerning authorship, copyright protection, rights allocation, and the lawful use of training data. Against this background, the paper analyses the economic relevance of copyright uncertainty in AI-supported media production rather than approaching the issue solely from a doctrinal legal perspective. The study first outlines the technological foundations of AI and its value-creating potential in the media industry. It then examines the basic principles of copyright law relevant to media products and analyses selected application fields in which AI is already affecting creative and production processes. The findings show that, under the current state of weak AI and the prevailing copyright framework, AI itself cannot qualify as an author because copyright protection remains tied to human intellectual creation. Copyright protection may arise only where human contribution to the creative process remains sufficiently substantial. At the same time, uncertainty regarding AI-generated outputs and copyrighted training data creates significant managerial challenges for media firms, particularly in relation to rights clearance, monetisation, governance, and innovation strategies. The paper concludes that the central challenge lies less in recognising AI as an author than in developing a regulatory and managerial framework that enables innovation while protecting human creative work and ensuring legally secure media value creation.