Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works?
In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the breakthrough of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has marked a change in the way in which creative outputs which would ordinarily be categorised as works eligible for copyright under international and do...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
Department of Commercial Law
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613170655297536 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mokotedi, Relebohile |
| author2 | Tong, Lee-Ann |
| author_browse | Mokotedi, Relebohile Tong, Lee-Ann |
| author_facet | Tong, Lee-Ann Mokotedi, Relebohile |
| author_sort | Mokotedi, Relebohile |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the breakthrough of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has marked a change in the way in which creative outputs which would ordinarily be categorised as works eligible for copyright under international and domestic copyright legislation, are created. This unprecedented technological advancement in the ability of AI systems to generate creative outputs has sparked controversy within copyright law because of traditional anthropocentric views of copyright protected works, resulting in a need to develop legislation to keep up with these growing trends and shifts in ways that creative outputs are being generated. This dissertation aims to explore the protectability of AI-generated content in South Africa within the context of copyright. This will be done by outlining the justification theories of intellectual property law and aligning them with the general purpose of copyright. This is done in order to provide context on which theory/theories specifically informs the South African context. The protectability of copyrightable material will also involve a discussion into who created the work and this is why the concepts of authorship and originality will be discussed. The originality and authorship of the works will be imperative in establishing the ownership implications for these resultant works. Next, the positions of foreign jurisdictions will also be drawn on in order to assess how these countries have dealt with the intersection of AI into the space of copyright law. Ultimately, it will be shown that these works are worthy of copyright protection, and should not fall to the public domain. The argument will highlight that the AI-generated works should be protected by extending authorship to the human(s) responsible for the machine's composition. In this way, the authorship and ownership will lie, not with the AI, but with a natural or juristic person. The conclusion will, therefore, highlight a need for South Africa to develop its copyright legislation in order to keep up with the everchanging and developing technological trends |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41770 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:31:53.390Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Department of Commercial Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Commercial Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41770 Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? Mokotedi, Relebohile Tong, Lee-Ann Law In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the breakthrough of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has marked a change in the way in which creative outputs which would ordinarily be categorised as works eligible for copyright under international and domestic copyright legislation, are created. This unprecedented technological advancement in the ability of AI systems to generate creative outputs has sparked controversy within copyright law because of traditional anthropocentric views of copyright protected works, resulting in a need to develop legislation to keep up with these growing trends and shifts in ways that creative outputs are being generated. This dissertation aims to explore the protectability of AI-generated content in South Africa within the context of copyright. This will be done by outlining the justification theories of intellectual property law and aligning them with the general purpose of copyright. This is done in order to provide context on which theory/theories specifically informs the South African context. The protectability of copyrightable material will also involve a discussion into who created the work and this is why the concepts of authorship and originality will be discussed. The originality and authorship of the works will be imperative in establishing the ownership implications for these resultant works. Next, the positions of foreign jurisdictions will also be drawn on in order to assess how these countries have dealt with the intersection of AI into the space of copyright law. Ultimately, it will be shown that these works are worthy of copyright protection, and should not fall to the public domain. The argument will highlight that the AI-generated works should be protected by extending authorship to the human(s) responsible for the machine's composition. In this way, the authorship and ownership will lie, not with the AI, but with a natural or juristic person. The conclusion will, therefore, highlight a need for South Africa to develop its copyright legislation in order to keep up with the everchanging and developing technological trends 2025-09-11T11:52:16Z 2025-09-11T11:52:16Z 2025 2025-09-11T11:48:58Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MBA http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41770 en eng application/pdf Department of Commercial Law Faculty of Law |
| spellingShingle | Law Mokotedi, Relebohile Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? |
| title_full | Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? |
| title_fullStr | Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? |
| title_short | Continually evolving technologies: does South African copyright law adequately protect AI generated works? |
| title_sort | continually evolving technologies does south african copyright law adequately protect ai generated works |
| topic | Law |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41770 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mokotedirelebohile continuallyevolvingtechnologiesdoessouthafricancopyrightlawadequatelyprotectaigeneratedworks |