Artists and Generative AI: Copyright and the Private Regulation of Creativity

Arts Law is honoured to be part of an arts-legal research team looking into the critical issues surrounding, ‘Artists and Generative AI: Copyright and the Private Regulation of Creativity’, along with Prof Kathy Bowrey, UNSW; Assoc Prof Oliver Bown, UNSW; and, Dr Marie Hadley, UoN. 

This project explores the significant power imbalance between artists and tech giants in the age of Generative AI that undermines the value of copyright to creators. We will investigate the connection between licensing terms attached to the digital tools, apps, and platforms used by visual artists and intensification of economic and cultural disruption in the arts. 

Project innovation flows from mapping artists’ views about their incorporation into AI-data markets to tech and platform licensing terms that facilitate extraction of value from creative labour. We hope recommendations will help promote more equitable industry-artist partnerships to facilitate growth of a vibrant digital arts sector through improving education and legal advice to artists and that consequently, Arts Law’s publicly available, accessible resources will be even more keenly and appropriately informed by the sector, and of greater benefit to artists and arts organisations.

In 2026, we’ll be inviting artists and arts organisations to share their views as part of this work.