Who Is Liable For AI-Created Content? Copyright Act And Civil Responsibility In Aotearoa New Zealand

The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has raised complex questions about the allocation of civil liability in copyright law. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Copyright Act 1994 offers no statutory guidance on how to assess works produced by AI systems, nor does it define authorship or originality in contexts where human input may be minimal or absent. This article examines whether the existing legal framework is equipped to address the risks of copyright infringement arising from generative outputs, particularly where such outputs are derived from copyrighted training data or imitate protected styles. Through doctrinal analysis and comparative evaluation of legal developments in the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, the article demonstrates that Aotearoa New Zealand lags in articulating a position on derivative and transformative use in the context of AI-generated content. It further identifies critical evidentiary and procedural gaps that make enforcement difficult for rights-holders and create uncertainty for developers and users alike. In response, the article proposes targeted legislative reforms, including statutory clarification of AI-related authorship, safe harbours for unintentional reproduction, mandated transparency in training datasets, and the establishment of a specialised tribunal to resolve AI-related copyright disputes. This article contributes to an emerging body of legal scholarship on AI and copyright by offering one of the first jurisdiction-specific analyses of liability in the Aotearoa New Zealand context. It argues that without timely and principled reform, the existing regime will struggle to maintain legal certainty and doctrinal coherence in the face of rapidly evolving generative technologies.