The “rise of the machines” has arrived, but not in the way we might have expected. These AI tools aren’t here to conquer, they’re here to create. If you’ve spent any time on the internet recently, you’ve probably noticed the flood of AI generated works in a style that’s unmistakably anime and often described as the “Studio Ghibli” design. It’s an art style closely associated with Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic work from Japan. This trend really took off after GPT-4 is now able to transform any photo into any style and everyone has jumped on the bandwagon.
But here’s the catch: If an artist’s work especially one as iconic and culturally important as Studio Ghibli’s can be easily copied, modified, and spread by AI with no real consequences, we might be facing a much bigger issue. This isn’t just about Copyright Law anymore, it’s about what we consider “creative ownership.” How do we protect an artist’s work when machines can replicate it so seamlessly?
Original Intent of the Copyright Law
Copyright Law has always been there to protect artists from having their work copied and shared without permission, ensuring creators have control over their Intellectual Property rights. Under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, original works like films, illustrations and designs are automatically protected the moment they are created with no formal registration needed. This should have prevented others from reproducing the unique, hand-drawn art of Studio Ghibli without authorization.
However, these laws were originally designed with human creators in mind. Today, machines can be trained on millions of images and instantly generate works that resemble the style of specific artists like Studio Ghibli without any direct human involvement.
Copyright Law is meant to protect the efforts of people who put time, creativity and skill into creating original work. It ensures their work isn’t used, altered, or profited from without permission. But when AI mimics Studio Ghibli’s unique artistic style, it goes against this principle. It allows machines to benefit from decades of artistic innovation without offering any credit or compensation to the original creators.
Understanding AI Generated Work
Right now, there are several popular generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Midjourney and DreamStudio that allow users to type in prompts and instantly produce impressive writing, art or even short films. However, all the AI tools named above are operating in a legal gray area. Style is not explicitly protected by Copyright Law and what they are doing now does not appear to be breaking the law as they are simply generating images that look like Studio Ghibli design.
From a legal point of view, this creates a loophole that AI companies are taking advantage of. They claim that since the images their tools create aren’t exact copies, there is no Copyright Infringement. Many of these AI companies also say that what they’re doing falls under “fair use”, a rule in Copyright Law that allows limited use of copyrighted content for things like parody, education or criticism.
Position in Malaysia
Different countries have different rules for what qualifies as a copyrightable works. In many countries like those in the EU, as well as Australia, UK and Malaysia, there is a common requirement which is the work must show a certain level of intellectual effort to be considered original.
When these Copyright Law were created, generative AI wasn’t even a concept. As a result, the laws weren’t designed to handle situations where the “creator” of the work isn’t a human, but a machine. Because of this, most existing Copyright Laws may not be broad or flexible enough to deal with the unique challenges posed by AI generated works.
Copyright treatment of AI generated works in Malaysia is actually somewhat less certain. Section 10 of the Malaysia Copyright Act 1987 provides three (3) conditions for work to be qualified for copyright protection. The first of such conditions is that the author of the work has to be a qualified person. A qualified person is limited to an individual or body corporate in Malaysia. The second and the third conditions under Section 10 of the Malaysia Copyright Act 1987 are “first publication of the work in Malaysia” and “made in Malaysia”. A work qualifies for Copyright Protection as long as it fulfils any one (1) of the three (3) alternative requirements under Section 10 of the Malaysia Copyright Act 1987.
Further, Section 26(1) of the Malaysia Copyright Act 1987 only confers copyright ownership on the “author” of the work, and “author” in this case is defined as a natural person who has created the work.
There is currently no definitive case law yet establishing clear ownership or protection for AI generated works. While the Malaysia Copyright Act 1987 doesn’t explicitly address AI generated works, the general principle is that Copyright Protection requires “human authorship”.
The Future
As AI generated works becomes increasingly widespread, the legal framework surrounding Copyright Law must adapt to address the challenges it presents. The case of Studio Ghibli highlights the growing rift between technological innovation and the need to preserve artistic rights. We have now seen how AI learns to generate artistic works. AI doesn’t create art out of nowhere, it learns from huge datasets that often include works made by human artists, sometimes scraped from the internet without the creators’ permission.
Currently, most jurisdictions do not protect AI generated works because of the missing element of “human authorship” which is seen as the guiding principle in Copyright Law per the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
Until clearer regulations are established, AI developers and artists will continue to navigate this complex and uncertain terrain. Things are likely to become yet more complex as use of artificial intelligence by artists becomes more widespread and as the machines get better at producing creative works, further blurring the distinction between artwork that is made by a human and that made by a computer. We may eventually reach a point where it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between content created by a person and content created by AI.
Please feel free to get in touch with us if you have any inquiries regarding Copyright issues in Malaysia. We will be happy to assist you.
Written by:
Hardeep Singh