Intellectual Property Rights of Generative AI in the Light of Islamic Jurisprudence

تخلیقی مصنوعی ذہانت (Generative AI) کے فکری حقوق: فقہ اسلامی کی روشنی میں

Abstract

The advent of Generative AI has revolutionized digital creation, enabling machines to autonomously produce complex text, imagery, and code. This unprecedented capability directly challenges traditional Intellectual Property (IP) rights, which are historically predicated exclusively on human intellect. In Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), concepts of ownership (Milkiyyah) and intellectual rights (Haqq al-Ibtikar) are deeply intertwined with human effort (Sa'i) and moral responsibility. Consequently, the absence of direct human authorship in AI outputs creates a profound legal vacuum regarding ownership, liability, and copyright allocation. Utilizing an analytical methodology, this research examines whether traditional Islamic legal frameworks can resolve this modern crisis or if they are structurally insufficient. It explores competing ownership claims among programmers, users, and AI entities, while evaluating the ethics of training models on copyrighted data through Shariah principles like public interest (Maslahah). The study concludes that reliance on conventional Fiqhi paradigms is no longer sustainable. Formulating a specialized legal framework for Generative AI is urgently needed to balance technological innovation with the safeguarding of human intellectual rights.