Who Owns AI-Generated Content? A Critical Analysis Of Copyright Authorship Under The Indian Copyright Act, 1957
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 16
- 1 min read
Shivam Kumar Mishra, PGDIPR, National Law School of India University
ABSTRACT
The rapid proliferation of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) has precipitated a profound structural crisis within global intellectual property regimes. AI models, capable of producing sophisticated literary, artistic, and musical works with minimal human prompting, have triggered unprecedented legal and philosophical inquiries regarding authorship, ownership, and the fundamental nature of creativity. The Indian Copyright Act, 1957, predicated exclusively upon an anthropocentric framework, is currently straining under the weight of autonomous machine creation. This article critically examines the existing legislative architecture in India, specifically deconstructing Section 2(d)(vi) of the Act, which attributes authorship of computer-generated works to the person who causes the work to be created. By juxtaposing this statutory provision against the Indian judiciary’s established "skill and judgment" standard for originality, this paper identifies a critical legal vacuum wherein AI-generated outputs seemingly default to the public domain. The article navigates the regulatory ambiguities highlighted by the ephemeral registration of the "RAGHAV" AI as a co-author, evaluates the landmark ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v. OpenAI Inc. litigation, and considers the 2026 IT Rule amendments. Ultimately, this article argues that attempting to retrofit autonomous AI outputs into archaic legal structures engenders severe commercial uncertainty and advocates for a sui generis legislative intervention.
