Hello Future
🎧 Podcast_Artificial Intelligence and Copyright: The New Creative Battleground
Artificial Intelligence and Copyright: The New Creative Battleground
Can an algorithm be an author?
A question that once sounded like science fiction is now an urgent legal and creative matter.
In our latest episode of hello future podcast, we sat down with Alejandra Morales, an attorney specializing in intellectual property and new technologies, to explore how AI is redefining the rules of creation in the audiovisual world.
🎧 Listen to the full episode of Hello Future Podcast and join the conversation about the future of authorship in the age of artificial intelligence.
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Why It Matters Now
Today, scripts, music, and images can be generated without direct human intervention. This challenges fundamental questions:
Who is the real author?
Who owns the rights?
How can works be protected in a human–machine hybrid context?
Copyright: The Traditional Framework
In audiovisual works, copyright protects original human creations — scripts, music, directing, cinematography, editing — and is divided into:
Moral rights: perpetual and non-transferable.
Economic rights: commercial exploitation for a limited time (life of the author + 70 years in many countries).
Until now, only natural persons could be recognized as authors.
AI can be your brush, but you’re still the artist — as long as you use it with intention." — Alejandra Morales
The Rise of AI: Who Signs the Work
The law does not recognize AI as an author. However, if there is significant human intervention — curation, refinement, aesthetic direction — the result may qualify for copyright protection as a human work.
Key case: Zarya of the Dawn. The U.S. Copyright Office protected the text and layout created by the author but denied protection to the Midjourney-generated images.
Protected Works as AI Fuel
Millions of protected works are used to train AI models without permission or compensation. This has led to:
Class action lawsuits from artists against generative platforms.
Union clauses in the U.S. limiting AI use in screenwriting and acting.
Calls for transparency and fair licensing.
Creatives, Corporations, and Technology
Creatives: fight to preserve authorship and fair compensation.
Corporations: seek efficiency but acknowledge the irreplaceable value of human talent.
Technology: moves forward relentlessly, often using works without consent.
The challenge: finding a balance that allows technology to enhance art without stripping it of its human value.
"The future is not technology versus art — it’s technology in service of art." — Alejandra Morales
"The future is not technology versus art — it’s technology in service of art." —
AI is a powerful tool, but the vision remains human. Protecting that vision means protecting the very soul of art.
