Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond

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dc.contributor.advisorNcube, Caroline
dc.contributor.authorMikioni, Tendai
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-23T11:13:27Z
dc.date.available2026-01-23T11:13:27Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2026-01-23T11:11:08Z
dc.description.abstractOnce again, humanity has welcomed technological advancement, this time around artificial intelligence, with mixed reactions. The creative industry is no exception to this rapidly evolving technology, with generative AI (genAI) deepening its claws in the creative industry. What lies within the fabric of genAI is a primary concern. In order to be trained (taught), genAI ingests enormous amounts of data, which is harvested indiscriminately. This is a cause for concern for those whose work is harvested and utilised without compensation, credit and consent. In addition, when genAI is deployed, the user's input prompts it to create works of their desires, ranging from images to musical lyrics. To that end, it remains to be answered whether the use of works for the purpose of training genAI and the generation of works by genAI trained using copyrighted works amount to copyright infringement. It is the duty of this dissertation to examine whether the South African copyright regime would deem it an infringement to make use of copyrighted works for training genAI. In addition, this dissertation goes further to examine whether there is a possibility of copyright infringement materialising when a user generates works through genAI. In this dissertation, the training of genAI will be referred to as the “input phase”, while the use of genAI by a user will be referred to as the “output phase.” In addition, the issue of who is liable when copyright infringement materialises will be analysed. In the end, the author submits recommendations for South Africa to address copyright infringement liability. Leading jurisdiction in copyright and AI regulations will be infused to enrich the discussion
dc.identifier.apacitationMikioni, T. (2025). <i>Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,School For Advanced Legal Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42670en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMikioni, Tendai. <i>"Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,School For Advanced Legal Studies, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42670en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMikioni, T. 2025. Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,School For Advanced Legal Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42670en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Mikioni, Tendai AB - Once again, humanity has welcomed technological advancement, this time around artificial intelligence, with mixed reactions. The creative industry is no exception to this rapidly evolving technology, with generative AI (genAI) deepening its claws in the creative industry. What lies within the fabric of genAI is a primary concern. In order to be trained (taught), genAI ingests enormous amounts of data, which is harvested indiscriminately. This is a cause for concern for those whose work is harvested and utilised without compensation, credit and consent. In addition, when genAI is deployed, the user's input prompts it to create works of their desires, ranging from images to musical lyrics. To that end, it remains to be answered whether the use of works for the purpose of training genAI and the generation of works by genAI trained using copyrighted works amount to copyright infringement. It is the duty of this dissertation to examine whether the South African copyright regime would deem it an infringement to make use of copyrighted works for training genAI. In addition, this dissertation goes further to examine whether there is a possibility of copyright infringement materialising when a user generates works through genAI. In this dissertation, the training of genAI will be referred to as the “input phase”, while the use of genAI by a user will be referred to as the “output phase.” In addition, the issue of who is liable when copyright infringement materialises will be analysed. In the end, the author submits recommendations for South Africa to address copyright infringement liability. Leading jurisdiction in copyright and AI regulations will be infused to enrich the discussion DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - generative AI KW - artificial intelligence KW - South Africa LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond TI - Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42670 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/42670
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMikioni T. Examining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Law ,School For Advanced Legal Studies, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42670en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentSchool For Advanced Legal Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Law
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectgenerative AI
dc.subjectartificial intelligence
dc.subjectSouth Africa
dc.titleExamining copyright infringement and liability in Generative Artificial Intelligence training and use: a legal perspective in South Africa and beyond
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelLLM
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