Intellectual property in the age of artificial intelligence: protecting creativity and enhancing authors’ rights

The rapid transformations in artificial intelligence technologies impose a new reality on the intellectual property and copyright system, after the impact of these technologies went beyond the development of digital tools to reshape the future of the cultural and creative industries, and raised fundamental questions regarding ownership of content, mechanisms for its use, and distribution of the economic return resulting from it.

In this context, the Egyptian vision emerges calling for building a balanced equation, a vision that combines encouraging technological innovation and preserving the legitimate rights of creators, ensuring that digital progress does not turn into a means of extracting the economic value of creative works from their owners.

Copyright in the age of artificial intelligence

This vision came during the participation of Dr. Hesham Azmy, “President of the Egyptian Intellectual Property Authority,” in the work of the International Copyright Forum 2026, which was hosted by “Dunhuang City” in the People’s Republic of China, with the participation of officials, experts, and representatives of institutions concerned with intellectual property and copyright from various countries of the world.

There, Dr. Hisham Azmy delivered the forum’s keynote speech, reviewing the Egyptian position on the future of copyright and creative industries in light of the rapid development of artificial intelligence, stressing the necessity of developing legal and institutional protection frameworks to keep pace with technological transformations, without prejudice to the rights of owners of intellectual and artistic works.

National Intellectual Property Strategy

In a related context, the head of the Egyptian Authority for Intellectual Property confirmed that Egypt possesses an extensive civilizational and cultural asset, embodied by its contributions to literature, music, cinema and the arts, which makes the protection of intellectual property a strategic necessity to preserve this heritage and maximize its economic and cultural returns.

In this context, he referred to the state’s efforts in implementing the National Intellectual Property Strategy (2022-2027), which aims to develop the institutional and legislative system, enhance the economic return of intellectual assets, and spread societal awareness of the importance of protecting the rights of creators. In implementation and achievement of Goal (16) of the Sustainable Development Goals: peace, justice and strong institutions.

This strategy is gaining increasing importance with the expansion of the digital economy. So it didn’t come back Intellectual property is limited to protecting works from imitation or illegal exploitation, but it has become one of the influential tools in supporting creative industries, attracting investments, and transforming knowledge and cultural production into added value.

Artificial Intelligence and Copyright

One of the most prominent issues discussed by the forum is how to use works protected by intellectual property rights to train artificial intelligence systems, and the extent of the commitment of the developers of these systems to guaranteeing the rights of content owners.

In this regard, Dr. Hisham Azmy stressed the importance of establishing a balanced international framework that protects authors and holders of related rights, and achieves compatibility between the requirements of technological innovation and the legitimate interests of creators.

This equation includes a number of main files :

• Clarity of the nature of the classifiers that artificial intelligence systems use in training.
• Establishing rules for the use of copyrighted works.
• Ensuring that creators benefit from the economic value resulting from the exploitation of their works.

Digital justice in the intellectual property system

The Egyptian vision extended to the international dimension of technological governance, when the head of the Intellectual Property Authority stressed the necessity of enhancing the participation of developing countries in shaping the future of the copyright system, and not limiting discussions related to Artificial intelligence depends on the countries that are most advanced in possessing and developing the technology.

The importance of this proposal stems from the great disparity in digital and technological capabilities between countries. While some economies have the tools to produce and develop smart models, other countries are seeking to build their technological infrastructure and enhance their ability to compete in digital industries.

Therefore, achieving digital justice requires providing more equitable opportunities for developing countries to benefit from technological transformations, develop their cultural and creative industries, and actively participate in formulating the international rules regulating this field.

The Arabic language with the vision of artificial intelligence

One of the issues that received special attention in the Egyptian speech is the necessity of preserving cultural diversity Linguistics in the digital environment, and enhancing the presence of the Arabic language in artificial intelligence applications and digital content platforms.

This is because the fair representation of different languages within modern models and technologies has become clearly related to equal access to knowledge and digital production, and the ability of societies to express their identity and participate in the knowledge economy. Which achieves the tenth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals: reducing inequalities.

In this context, a set of basic requirements emerge :

• Enhancing the representation of the Arabic language in artificial intelligence models.
• Supporting the production of knowledge and creative content in the Arabic language.
• Protection of rights Authors and rights holders associated with Arabic content.
• Ensuring that less visible cultures and languages are not marginalized in the digital environment.

From this standpoint, The Earth Guards Foundation believes that protecting intellectual property in the era of artificial intelligence represents one of the basic conditions for achieving the goals of sustainable development. Because creative industries are, without a doubt, a tributary of growth, job opportunities and investment, and one of the main components of national identity and the soft power of countries.

That is, the real challenge lies in building a system that makes the two paths complementary. Technological development does not constitute a justification for violating rights, nor does legal protection become an obstacle to the production and circulation of knowledge. Which achieves the goals of sustainable development and its seven goals Ten fairly and comprehensively.