Course Catalogue

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This course explores how copyright and other areas of the law shape the business decisions of digital content creators engaging with artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. From generative AI tools to algorithmic content curation, these technologies are transforming how creators such as influencers, streamers, gamers, and creative studios produce, distribute, and monetise content. As creative practice on online platforms such as YouTube, Instagram or TikTok evolves, so too do the legal questions surrounding authorship, ownership of rights, and the reuse of existing content, among others. Topics of exploration may include the legal considerations of AI training and the legal status of AI-generated and AI-assisted text, music, and images.

Using copyright and other forms of intellectual property as the starting point, students will engage with a range of legal frameworks that are relevant for AI, such as personality rights and data protection. The course combines legal debates with real-world case studies from the UK and the EU, encouraging students to critically assess the implications of AI and its regulation for the creative economy.

4 x 2-hour or 1.5-hour seminars (7 hours)

3 x 2-hour or 1-hour lectures (5 hours)

4 x 2-hour practical classes and workshops (8 hours)

The course is open to students enrolled in the PG Cert in AI Law and the Creative Economy.

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The summative assessment consists of:

■ Set Exercise (20%) - Interactive small-group exercises resulting in a post on Moodle mapping the relevant legal frameworks and instruments.

■ Portfolio (80%) - Evidence of achievement of the intended learning outcomes, including a critical reflection informed by course materials and independent research. The portfolio may require students to produce written or audiovisual materials demonstrating engagement with the course themes - for example, short legal commentaries on case studies or a mock social media post or video script explaining a legal issue to a general audience. Drawing on these materials, students will also be expected to provide a reflective commentary (approx. 1,000 words) discussing the identified legal and regulatory challenges faced by digital content creators.

The details of the set exercise and portfolio will be included in the course handbook. Students will be encouraged to draw on real-life challenges from their professional contexts, enabling collaborative problem-solving, and peer exchange. This approach aims to ensure that learning is grounded in practice and directly relevant to participants' careers.

The principal aim of this course is to equip students with a critical understanding of how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping the legal landscape for digital content creators. The course encourages students to explore the implications of AI technologies for creative practice and regulatory innovation, with a focus on creators operating within the digital economy.

Further aims are to:

■ Introduce students to the legal and policy frameworks that govern AI-generated and AI-assisted content creation, for example intellectual property, data protection, personality rights, and platform governance;

■ Develop students' ability to analyse legal and regulatory responses to emerging technologies through comparative and case-based approaches;

■ Encourage critical engagement with current debates on the role of law in shaping creative innovation and digital labour;

■ Support the development of research, communication, and analytical skills through structured inquiry and independent study;

■ Foster interdisciplinary reflection on the evolving relationship between law, technology, and creative industries.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Explain the legal and regulatory challenges faced by digital content creators using AI and other technologies

■ Compare legal and policy approaches to AI-assisted content creation across different jurisdictions, in particular, the UK and the EU;

■ Apply legal reasoning to real-world case studies involving influencers, streamers, and other digital creators operating within the creative economy;

■ Evaluate the implications of evolving platform policies and regulatory standards on the rights, responsibilities, and practices of digital creators;

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.