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The Legal Implications of AI-Generated Content in Media and Entertainment

Legalwiki

07 Jul 2025 — 17 min read

Author: Gayatri Sharda, LLM student, GNDU, Amritsar.

Introduction

With the changing times, the technological industry has seen remarkable growth in terms of innovations and advancements. The technology industry is ever- evolving consisting of many other smaller industries, where new innovations emerge every day. This rapid growth and progress of the technologies available reshape the way various industries work. This rapid progression in turn creates new opportunities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is one of those innovations which have completely changed the way we work and interact with the world. From home appliances to computer software to medical prosthetics, AI has integrated itself in every industry possible.

The media and entertainment industry in India has witnessed significant transformation in the last decade which is largely driven by these innovations like artificial intelligence (AI). Through the use of AI one can easily produce work which usually takes a lot of time like audio, video, text, images etc.

While the rise of AI generated content has opened new creative direction and business opportunities, it has also brought along complex legal challenges. These challenges have made it difficult as to how the media and entertainment industry interacts with AI. Now with wide use and easy accessibility of AI softwares, people use it to generate data for their leisure. This has led to widespread circulations of pictures and videos which are edited and fake, people using a celebrity’s voice for voice overs for their videos or advertisements, and people using AI to generate pictures/videos to spread misinformation.

In this article, we will explore the various legal implications of AI generated content in the media and entertainment industry, examining issues related to copyright, intellectual property, defamation, ethical concerns and privacy in this industry which arises due to AI.

What is AI-Generated Content?

To understand what is an AI generated content one must understand the meaning of what is AI. Artificial Intelligence as the name suggests is a set of technologies that allow a computer to mimic and perform tasks which require human intelligence. This technology works by training a machine to work in a way that a human does. It imitates the logical reasoning capacity of a human. AI uses deep learning of the data which is input to perform the various tasks. The data input can be in any form- visual, audio or written. The task performed can range from translating the language of the text to identifying a person from CCTV video, in a crowded place using face recognition .

AI has seamlessly integrated itself into our lives that we often use it without even realizing it. Tools which use AI technology make our life more efficient and convenient. For example, GPS navigation apps use AI to provide real-time traffic updates and suggest alternative routes, Google search using voice command, social media algorithms that show posts and advertisements according to our interests, heart rate check or number of steps walked using smart watch and so on.

AI generated content in the media and entertainment industry

AI has entirely transformed the media and entertainment industry in multiple ways with its profound effects on content creation, its consumption and distribution. The media and entertainment industry encompasses various other industries like films, TV, social media, newspapers/ magazines, music, animation, art, gaming, etc. so, the impact of AI is very complex as it has both aided and hindered the working of the industry.

Media is of two types- traditional media and digital media. Traditional media consists mainly of newspapers and magazines in physical forms which are easily available in the market. Traditional media is widely consumed by all age groups but more so by the older generation. Many physical newspapers and magazines publish articles, pictures or comics generated through AI. This is done to cut costs in hiring additional staff to do the work.

Digital media platforms, popular among the younger generation, are those platforms which are accessed digitally i.e. online using the internet. There are many online news agencies and magazines available which do not have any physical presence. They too extensively use AI to post content online. And since AI is not reliable and prone to bias, the digital media houses often post misinformation without any fact-checking.

In digital media and social media, various online content creation platforms and social media platforms use AI extensively. AI powered algorithms used by social media applications like Facebook, YouTube or Netflix, uses vast amounts of individual data to recommend contents to the user. Even a simple Google search can be used to tailor the type of advertisements you get on various websites. AI has great influence in creation and distribution of digital content like e-books, online magazines/newspaper and blog posts, etc. But this has made it difficult to explore content outside of the algorithms, controlling the content you consume through social media.

In the music industry, from production to distribution and publishing, all is done with the help of AI. Some AI music platform even uses your voice to record a whole original song for you. AI can mimic the style and tone and other characteristics of an artist, which is unique to him, to record content. Music distribution applications like Spotify, use your browsing behavior to recommend the songs for you. But despite transforming the music industry, AI poses a threat to the livelihood and rights of the actual musicians.

In the film and television industry AI has aided in production of various films and television shows. It helps in producing creative writing content like screenplays, generating dialogue, writing scripts, etc. It also helps with adding special effects and final editing in post-production work. AI is even used in animation films, create comic work, or produce digital art without any input from the artist. Nowadays many of the post production work after filming like CGI or edits are done using AI, reducing manpower and costs.

AI technology like deep fake uses a person’s pictures and edit the face and background seamlessly creating a hyper realistic picture or video of someone. This could be very harmful as this technology can be easily misused.

AI is also used in the video games industry to animate and help code to create characters, their outfits, or interactive environment and even game design ensuring players remain engaged. It is also used extensively in virtual reality (VR) games.

These are just a few ways AI is transforming the media and entertainment industry to work in an efficient way and create a personalized environment for the users. But this surge in use and complete reliance on AI technology has led to many legal challenges. This has made people too reliant on AI to get the work done, that it has hindered creativity of the human mind especially in a creative industry like media and entertainment.

Legal implication of AI content in the media and entertainment industry

The evolution and breakthroughs brought about by AI technology are exciting; however they also raise several legal as well as ethical concerns. These legal questions have yet to be fully addressed by Indian laws.

1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

In India, intellectual property rights are protected through a group of acts namely the Copyright Act 1957, the Patent’s Act 1970, the Trademarks Act 1999, and the Designs Act 2000. Among these acts the most relevant act for art related work especially in the media and entertainment industry is the copyright act.

Copyright is one of the most pressing legal concerns when it comes to AI generated content. The Copyright Act 1957 provides legal protection to the creators of the original work in the field of literary, dramatics, music or artistry. Original work also includes photography, content related to cinematography or film recording. These creators are also called authors. But the act does not specify anything related to the authorship of content which is created by AI machines.

Ownership of AI Content

Under Indian law, a copyright is owned by the human author over a work. The copyright act defines an author as the person who creates the work. The copyright act across the globe is very human centric. Since AI is not a human being but a machine, the question is raised as to who owns the copyright of AI-generated content. The ownership of the copyright to the art, script or music written or produced by AI is questionable. Is it the entity that developed the AI, or the person who input the instruction/ data to AI, or the entity who owns the AI software?

Section 2 (d)(v) of the copyright Act states that the authorship or ownership of AI generated work is given if a natural person or human causes the work to be produced. This usually means that the creator can either be the user of the AI software or the developer of the software. Thus there is no specific provision regarding the ownership of the AI content leading to potential disputes between the user and developer of AI.

International perspective:

USA:

In the USA there are several acts regarding copyright but two main acts which are widely used and applicable in the AI content are the Copyright Act of 1976 and Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. These acts state that AI content cannot be copyrighted unless the content is made using significant human input. But ascertaining how much human involvement there is also difficult. In the Thaler vs Perlmutter case, the US district court held that AI generated content is ineligible for copyright as they are not created by humans. Under US laws, there is no ownership of AI content. Only human centric works which are original can be copyrighted.

Under the guise of Fair Use doctrine, AI learning models use copyrighted material to train their system or software without any permission. In Thomson Reuters vs Ross Intelligence, the court held that ross intelligence using copyright material without permission was infringement under the law. Setting a precedent for AI copyright cases and setting an example to not use the doctrine arbitrarily.

European Union:

The European Parliament passed the first regulation on artificial intelligence in 2024. The AI Act, 2024 addresses the obligations and duties of developer and user of AI software which may vary depending on the level of risk from the software. This risk refers to the level of benefits the AI gives as opposed to any violations of safety and fundamental rights of individuals. Some pacific AI softwares related to specific industries will now have to get themself registered in their database. These software are considered high risk and will be assessed before being available in the market.

This act also makes it necessary for AI softwares to be transparent and disclose the content created using AI. this is to regulate the type of content being produced using AI is not manipulative eg. deepfakes. This ensures that people who come across these types of content know they are made using AI, avoiding spread of misinformation.

This act encourages AI innovations in a controlled environment, as the European government recognises that AI can also revolutionize various industries. But still there is no concrete law or guideline as to who is the owner of the AI content.

The copyright ownership is an ongoing debate which is still not addressed in the new act.

There is lack of legal clarity related to ownership of copyright of AI generated content. The legal ambiguity surrounding the AI authorship could lead to disputes over ownership, usage rights, etc. in India. So the content in media and entertainment which is solely generated using AI makes it difficult to determine the ownership of AI generated content making it susceptible to be used by somebody else without any legal repercussions.

Therefore to keep up with the AI content and copyright, there is a need for laws or guidelines for the same.

2. DEFAMATION AND AI-GENERATED CONTENT

With advancements in AI technology now there are AI tools which can potentially harm the reputation of a person. With technology like deepfake it is very easy to create hyper-realistic audio, image or video of people saying or doing things they never actually did. Its usage can be seen on social media where people use deepfake to make videos of a celebrity promoting some brand/ application or singing a song of some other artist. In India defamation is criminal as well as a civil offence. Section 499 and 500 of Indian penal code and section 356 of Bhartiys Nyaya Sanhita deal with defamation.

If AI generated content is used to defame an individual or public figure, the question arises who is held liable. Is it the AI tool developer or the user who created the content by putting in the data, or the platform that posted the defamatory content? In some cases this deepfake technology is used to create pornographic content to persons by only using their picture. This defamatory content spreads rapidly across various social media platforms harming the person’s reputation.

In 2023, famous Indian celebrity Anil Kapoor won a legal battle against AI preventing use of his image, voice, name, etc. for commercial purposes. Like him many celebrities fall victim to the deepfake tools, harming their reputation. Celebrities like Ranveer Singh, Rashmika Mandanna and Amir Khan have obtained injunctions on people using their likeness/ personality to advertise or for any other commercial use. This had led to a concept of protection of personality rights. That people with distinct public personalities can get protection rights stopping people from impersonating them.

With deepfake technology, a person’s character, voice and even actions can be altered to create defamatory content that spreads rapidly through social media platforms. Many public figures fall victim to this. There is no definitive law for this but one can make use of their personality rights and defamation laws to protect themselves. But the protection of personality rights is only granted to famous people and not the common person.

3. PRIVACY CONCERNS

AI softwares are designed to improve efficiency and convenience by providing quick results by often pulling information from across the web. A wide range of private and public data is put into the software to generate results which are customized to the user’s taste. The AI models are trained in such a way to only generate output according to the personal data which is input. This raises significant concerns related to privacy and confidentiality, especially in India where the privacy laws are still new and developing.

Due to incessant raising concerns of no privacy of the digital data and cases of data being misused, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023, was enacted to tackle the privacy concerns of Indian citizens.

AI use in content generation in media and entertainment may lead to unauthorized use of personal data as the AI system is trained on data that include personal information. AI uses the data used in normal Google search or any activity on social media apps, or simply something stored in your mobile phone, violating a person’s privacy without their knowledge and consent.

The privacy laws of India are still evolving. The laws surrounding data privacy are very new. Now unauthorized use of personal data does not only infringe our fundamental right under article 21 i.e. Right to Privacy but also violates the DPDP Act of 2023. But these two legal provisions protect only the data which is processed in India or the data of foreign entities that offer services to India. So if any foreign entity with no commercial ties to India breaches the privacy of an individual and uses their personal data, nothing can be done due to territorial jurisdiction.

Somebody’s personal data should only be used after their informed consent, with the exception when the data is used for legitimate reasons similar to the fair use doctrine. There is a need for robust provisions related to violation of privacy with wider territorial scope owing to the large-scale usage of digital data globally.

4. ETHICAL CONCERNS WITH USE OF AI

The rise of AI tools for content creation has sparked ethical concerns about the truth,diversity, and bias in the content produced. News, advertisements, and videos produced by AI can create very convincing material that is very close to real-world information. It becomes hard to tell what is real and what is not. This makes it veryeasy to spread misinformation, because you can’t tell what is real and what is not, as the content produced is very realistic.AI can write articles that are undetectable from the work that are written by human journalists. It can also create hyper-realistic pictures and videos to control user’s emotions according to their preference. Such technology contributes to the spread of misinformation and people unknowingly consume and share such content. This is also very commonly seen in messages sent through Facebook or whatsapp. This is more concerning in the political, health and social spheres. This is because this rapid spread of information and easy access to social media makes it very easy to mislead.

AI tools are built on databases that may reflect the existing societal biases, making the content that perpetuate stereotypes or discriminate against certain groups. In the media and entertainment industry this could affect the type of script written or character’s dialogue. AI lacks the human emotional and moral depth.

Another ethical concern with AI generated content is that it has the capability to replace human workers, posing a threat to their employment across various industries. Since AI can handle tasks and process vast amounts of data in seconds makes it a tool of choice in the industry. This is because most industries prefer to use AI than to employ more people to the work to cut costs. For example, many magazines and newspapers use AI to write their articles instead of hiring more journalists, or they use AI instead of professional photographers to modify/ edit pictures. This has not only led to loss of employment but has also minimized the emotive work which comes with human involvement.

Human involvement makes the artistic work more authentic, creative, and unique which makes the creative work very individualistic. AI lacks the emotional depth and understanding and produces content which normally is in replicated style lacking the human artistic touch. Thus it not only affects the artists economically but deprives people of creativity and deeper thinking by relying on AI to generate content especially in the media and entertainment industry which needs emotional resonance, storytelling and unique perspective. AI poses a threat to creative industries as it is taking over the jobs of real people and producing content which is ambiguous and not factually correct.

AI software cannot differentiate between what is right or wrong. They lack the emotional and moral values which humans naturally possess. This has led to many dubious and unethical practices and has raised concerns for confidentiality also. Indian law currently has no specific provision which tackles the ethical aspect of softwares. There is a need for regulations that mandates transparency, fairness in use of AI and accountability for misuse of AI to spread misinformation.

5. LIABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Determining the liability and accountability in cases involving AI content is a complex issue. If AI generated content is causing defamation, or violating privacy or infringing Intellectual property of someone, who is responsible? Is it the developer of an AI tool, the user who used AI or the platform hosting the content?

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, in India, regulate all online digital and social media intermediaries. According to these rules, the intermediaries are liable for hosting any illegal or harmful content. The only exception where the platform is not held liable is if it has conducted thorough due diligence before publishing the content. However, these rules do not talk about AI generated content.

In many court decisions, intermediaries were held liable for the content posted. Earlier it was not crucial for intermediaries to actively keep a check of their platform but now all active intermediaries should keep a check on the content hosted on the platform and regulate them according to the guidelines. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 specifically was implemented to regulate content on three kinds of intermediaries – Social media, Digital media, online news agencies and OTT websites. Online gaming platforms also come under the ambit of the intermediaries.

Thus there are no specific law which outlines the liability in case of harmful AI generated content. But the courts take decisions according to the Information Technology Act and rules and circumstances of the case. There is a need for rules or guidelines to regulate the increasing use of AI and strike a balance between innovation and accountability.

AI COPYRIGHT AND FAIR USE DOCTRINE.

AI generates content based on the data which is fed into the system by the user. Although most of the information data used may be copyrighted, it is often argued that its use qualifies under the fair use doctrine. The Fair use doctrine is a legal theory. It permits the limited use of copyrighted material without requesting the permission of the owner of the copyright. However, this doctrine is applicable only under certain conditions. Free use of copyrighted work is permitted if it fits into one of the four categories - purpose of use, nature of the work performed with the material, the amount of work copyrighted and the impact of the used material on the original work. This concept was first used under US laws. This authorizes the copyright work to be utilized for purposes like commentary, news reporting, criticism, research or teaching. This principle was incorporated in Indian legislations under Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

But this concept becomes a little tricky when it comes to AI generated data which might use copyrighted material. Many AI software use copyrighted data to train its models with the purpose of generating content. It has long been argued that it is a violation of the copyrights of the original creator. However, it is claimed that AI can utilize the copyrighted work if the final product is transformative and does not hurt the original creator.

The Ministry of commerce and Industry through a press release has stated that AI softwares have to get permission before using any copyrighted material for any training of their model, if its purpose is not covered under section 52 of Copyright Act. AI platforms tend to take the defense of the four categories under which the fair use of copyrighted work is permitted. As a result, the usage of copyrighted material by AI has become an ambiguous issue with no definite answer. And this issue had led to many lawsuits and cases which are further discussed,

Therefore, it is a complex and ever-changing legal issue. With every new advancement, new complexities emerge. There are continuing constant debates about the scope of fair use when applied to AI technology.

INDIAN CASE STUDIES

1. ANI Vs OpenAI : On 19 November 2024, Indian news agency ANI (Asian News International) sued OpenAI, the organization behind ChatGPT in Delhi High Court. ANI claims that OpenAI has used its copyrighted content for training purposes without authorization. OpenAI also provides verbatim or extremely close response to articles published by ANI and even provides wrong information about interviews done by ANI which they actually have not even done.

Open AI asserted that the data which is used for training models qualifies as fair use and has remained open about its data usage. Further, it was contended that OpenAI has its operation abroad, with no presence in India, so there is no territorial jurisdiction in India against the company.

2. Indian billionaires Gautam Adani controlled NDTV and Mukesh Ambani controlled Network18 group, together with media outlets The Indian Express, Hindustan Times and several other outlets have sued OpenAI for alleged use of the copyright content without proper permission. It claims that the ChatGPT developer is copying the content from various news outlets without any permission. The information used by OpenAI is owned by the news outlets of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) and plaintiffs alleges that the use of their information without any authorization or permission poses a danger to the copyrights held by them.

This lawsuit was brought in the form of an intervention of a case filed by ANI against OpenAI for illegally utilising copyright material without consent. DNPA further stated that OpenAI does not provide sufficient transparency and disclosure.

3. Recently, music giants Sony, Saregama and T-Series among many other music companies have joined the ANI in their lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement of unauthorized use of their copyrighted sound recordings and other content to train its AI model. This case will be heard along with the other lawsuits and the main issue of jurisdiction of Indian courts will be decided.

4. Numerous celebrities have moved to court for legal protection against AI made deepfake videos that damage their popularity and reputation. Celebrities like Ranveer Singh, Amir Khan, Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor , and even Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson are included in them. This protection is legally extended to them through their personality rights.

5. Arijit Singh v Codible Ventures and Ors : a lawsuit against the voice cloning with the help of AI was lodged by singer Arijit Singh in the Bombay High Court. Arijit, a famous playback singer, alleged that misappropriation of his distinctive singing personality and style was made for commercial gains with the help of AI tools. The court restrained the third parties from infringing his personality rights.

CONCLUSION

AI based content is revolutionizing the media and entertainment industry in India, allowing greater efficiency and creativity. The legal and ethical issues associated with this technology have larger repercussions and should be addressed with proper regulations. Defamation, copyright, privacy concerns and ethical and moral issues should be properly addressed by the laws and regulations which reflect the new era of AI- generated content.

With the growth and development of AI, it is important for the Indian legal system to grow alongside it, and ensure that rights of the content creators and consumers are protected. This will also encourage responsibility and innovation of technology without any malicious intent. Legal accountability and clarity of liability is the key which will shape the ever growing AI technology in the media and entertainment industry.