AI In The Creative Industries: Misuse, Controversy, And The Push For Use-Focused Regulation

by
Alisa Davidson

Revealed: January 26, 2026 at 4:44 am Up to date: January 26, 2026 at 4:44 am

by Ana

Edited and fact-checked:
January 26, 2026 at 4:44 am

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AI is rapidly reshaping artistic apply, however its misuse is proliferating simply as quick. Undisclosed AI-assisted writing, voice and likeness cloning, and AI-generated imagery are repeatedly showing after being printed and even awarded, sparking high-profile controversies and eroding belief in cultural establishments.

Regulators and platforms are scrambling to reply with a mixture of disclosure necessities, content-labeling proposals, provenance and watermarking requirements, and focused enforcement. But the present framework stays patchy, gradual, and sometimes unclear. How can lawmakers defend creators and shoppers with out stifling innovation? Are current guidelines even able to protecting tempo with the fast-evolving AI panorama? These questions lie on the coronary heart of one of the vital pressing debates in know-how and creativity right this moment.

Among the many most notable AI controversies of the previous few years is Rie Qudan’s Sympathy Tower Tokyo, winner of the 2024 Akutagawa Prize. The writer disclosed that roughly 5% of the novel—primarily the responses of an in-story chatbot—was generated utilizing ChatGPT. The revelation ignited debate about authorship and transparency in literature. Critics have been divided: some praised the work as an progressive use of AI to discover language and know-how, whereas others considered it as a problem to conventional norms of authentic authorship and literary integrity. Protection in main shops emphasised the guide’s themes—justice, empathy, and the social results of AI—and the procedural questions raised by incorporating generative fashions in prize-winning work, prompting requires clearer disclosure requirements and reconsideration of award standards. The case has turn out to be a touchstone in broader conversations about artistic company, copyright, and the moral limits of AI help within the arts, with lasting implications for publishers, prize committees, and authorship norms.

One other high-profile incident concerned Lena McDonald’s Darkhollow Academy: 12 months Two, the place readers found an AI immediate and enhancing notice embedded in chapter three. This unintentional disclosure revealed that the writer had used an AI instrument to imitate one other author’s type, sparking rapid backlash and widespread protection. The occurance highlighted the bounds of present publishing workflows and the necessity for clear norms round AI-assisted writing. It intensified requires transparency, provoked discussions about editorial oversight and high quality management, and fueled broader debates over attribution, stylistic mimicry, and intellectual-property dangers in industrial fiction.

In visible arts, German photographer Boris Eldagsen sparked controversy recently  when a picture he submitted to the Sony World Images Awards was revealed to be fully AI-generated. The work initially received the Artistic Open class, prompting debates concerning the boundaries between AI-generated content material and conventional images. The photographer in the end declined the prize, whereas critics and trade figures questioned how competitions ought to deal with AI-assisted or AI-generated entries.

The music trade has confronted comparable challenges. The British EDM observe “I Run” by Haven grew to become a high-profile AI controversy in 2025 after it was revealed that the track’s lead vocals had been generated utilizing synthetic-voice know-how resembling an actual artist. Main streaming platforms eliminated the observe for violating impersonation and copyright guidelines, upsetting widespread condemnation, renewed requires express consent and attribution when AI mimics dwelling performers, and accelerated coverage and authorized debates over how streaming providers, rights holders, and regulators ought to handle AI-assisted music to guard artists, implement copyright, and protect belief in artistic attribution.

Regulators Grapple With AI Harms: EU, US, UK, And Italy Roll Out Threat-Primarily based Frameworks 

The issue of harms from AI use—together with instances the place creatives go off AI-generated work as human-made—has turn out to be a urgent subject, and rising regulatory frameworks are starting to handle it.

The European Union’s AI Act establishes a risk-based authorized framework that entered into power in 2024, with phased obligations operating by way of 2026–2027. The regulation requires transparency for generative programs, together with labelling AI-generated content material in sure contexts, danger assessments and governance for high-risk purposes, and empowers each the EU AI Workplace and nationwide regulators to implement compliance. These provisions immediately goal challenges equivalent to undisclosed AI-generated media and opaque mannequin coaching.

Nationwide legislators are additionally transferring rapidly in some areas. Italy, for instance, superior a complete nationwide AI regulation in 2025, imposing stricter penalties for dangerous makes use of equivalent to deepfake crimes, and codifying transparency and human oversight necessities—demonstrating how native lawmaking can complement EU-level guidelines. The EU Fee is concurrently creating non-binding devices and trade codes of apply, notably for Normal Goal AI, although rollout has confronted delays and trade pushback, reflecting the problem of manufacturing well timed, sensible guidelines for quickly evolving applied sciences.

The UK has adopted a “pro-innovation” regulatory strategy, combining authorities white papers, sector-specific steerage from regulators equivalent to Ofcom and the ICO, and principles-based oversight emphasizing security, transparency, equity, and accountability. Somewhat than imposing a single EU-style code, UK authorities are specializing in steerage and steadily constructing oversight capability.

In the USA, policymakers have pursued a sectoral, agency-led technique anchored by Govt Order 14110 from October 2023, which coordinates federal motion on secure, safe, and reliable AI. This strategy emphasizes danger administration, security testing, and focused rulemaking, with interagency paperwork equivalent to America’s AI Motion Plan offering steerage, requirements growth, and procurement guidelines relatively than a single complete statute.

Martin Casado Advocates Use-Targeted AI Regulation To Shield Creatives With out Stifling Innovation

For creatives and platforms, the sensible implications are clear. Regulators are pushing for stronger disclosure necessities, together with clear labelling of AI-generated content material, consent guidelines for voice and likeness cloning, provenance and watermarking requirements for generated media, and tighter copyright and derivative-use laws. These measures intention to forestall impersonation, defend performers and authors, and enhance accountability for platforms internet hosting probably deceptive content material—primarily implementing the “use-focused” regulatory strategy beneficial by Andreessen Horowitz’s basic associate Martin Casado within the a16z podcast episode.

He argues that coverage ought to prioritize how AI is deployed and the concrete harms it may possibly trigger, relatively than making an attempt to police AI mannequin growth itself, which is fast-moving, tough to outline, and simple to evade. The enterprise capitalist warns that overbroad, development-focused guidelines may chill open analysis and weaken innovation. 

Martin Casado emphasizes that unlawful or dangerous actions carried out utilizing AI ought to stay prosecutable underneath current regulation, and that regulation ought to first be certain that legal, consumer-protection, civil-rights, and antitrust statutes are enforced successfully. The place gaps stay, he advocates for brand spanking new laws grounded in empirical proof and narrowly focused at particular dangers, relatively than broad, speculative mandates that might stifle technological progress.

In accordance with the knowledgeable, it is very important preserve openness in AI growth, equivalent to supporting open-source fashions, to protect long-term innovation and competitiveness whereas making certain that regulatory measures stay exact, sensible, and targeted on real-world harms.

Alisa, a devoted journalist on the MPost, makes a speciality of cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a eager eye for rising developments and applied sciences, she delivers complete protection to tell and interact readers within the ever-evolving panorama of digital finance.

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