Generative AI has ignited a global debate over intellectual property rights, the flow of information and the future of creativity.  As AI systems train on vast datasets scraped from the internet — including copyrighted news articles, photographs, books, music, and creative works — fundamental questions emerge, and the legal landscape is fracturing.  Questions include: Who owns the output?  What constitutes transformative use across different legal jurisdictions for an issue that transcends borders?  How do we balance innovation with creators’ rights when AI can generate content that competes directly with the original works? How is AI impacting traditional trademark and image rights? And what will be the impact on the flow of independent information to the public?

In the US, courts are testing the boundaries of fair use as AI companies argue their systems 'transform' copyrighted works. In Europe, stricter data protection and copyright regimes are forcing different models. Recent landmark cases are establishing divergent precedents that will shape how AI can legally develop, whether licensing markets can survive and what happens to media sustainability when machines compete with the content they learned from.  
At the same time, the dramatic proliferation of AI – particularly on social media platforms – has the potential for misinformation and deception, as it becomes more and more difficult to discern 'truth' from AI-generated falsities, with platforms functioning as both massive content repositories and distribution channels. Algorithms complicate this further, often determining what gets amplified, what is hidden, and what audiences see.

This session examines the cross-border tensions in AI law, including intellectual property law; the impact of emerging case law on how AI systems can legally develop; what this means for licensing markets, AI innovation, the flow of information and media sustainability; how to balance free speech principles against the dangers of misinformation; and whether international frameworks can reconcile fundamentally different views on balancing creator rights against technological progress.