ARCHIVES
VOL. 12, ISSUE 3 (2026)
Who owns a film made by machines? reimagining copyright, authorship, and creative control in AI-generated cinema
Authors
Hastee Shah
Abstract
The growing use of Artificial Intelligence
(AI) in filmmaking is changing the way films are written, produced, edited, and
performed. This paper examines whether existing copyright law is capable of
addressing these changes, particularly where the creative process increasingly
depends on AI-generated material. It focuses on the difficulty of applying
traditional ideas of human authorship and originality to works in which a
person may only provide prompts, select outputs, or supervise an AI system. The
paper also considers how the increasing use of AI can affect the creative
authority of directors, particularly when important elements of a film are
generated or altered through automated systems. In addition, it examines the
copyright and personality-right implications of AI-generated performances,
including the unauthorised reproduction of an individual’s voice, appearance,
or mannerisms. The position of producers under Indian copyright law is
considered in particular, as producers may exercise substantial control over
the use of AI while also becoming responsible for the resulting content. The
paper argues that the present legal framework does not adequately address
situations where meaningful human creative contribution is difficult to
identify. It therefore proposes that copyright protection should be linked to a
threshold of meaningful human creative control rather than merely to the use of
AI tools. The paper further suggests reconsidering the scope of protection
available to predominantly AI-generated works, strengthening producer
accountability, and recognising “Algorithmic Cinema” as a distinct legal
category. These changes could allow copyright law to respond to technological
developments without losing sight of the importance of human creativity.
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Pages:377-380
How to cite this article:
Hastee Shah "Who owns a film made by machines? reimagining copyright, authorship, and creative control in AI-generated cinema". International Journal of Law, Vol 12, Issue 3, 2026, Pages 377-380
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