AI-Generated Art: A Challenge to Creative Integrity?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have experienced rapid growth, permeating diverse sectors such as logistics, transportation, and healthcare, catalysing significant innovations. One particularly transformative area for AI has been the arts. While AI's integration into these fields demonstrates its vast potential to benefit society, its development raises critical legal and ethical concerns, particularly regarding using copyrighted materials without consent. Many AI companies utilise third-party creative works—such as literature, films, and art—as training data for their models, often bypassing the copyright holders' permissions. This practice not only undermines the rights of creators but also threatens the integrity of the industries that rely on these creative works. This paper critically examines India's copyright law, focusing on the provisions of the Copyright Act 1957 that pertain to the use of third-party works as AI training data. It assesses the adequacy of these provisions and underscores the urgent need for enhanced legal protections to safeguard creators and uphold the ethical boundaries of AI development.