Royalties for AI‑generated characters

Updated: 2026.01.16 12D ago 12 sources
OpenAI will let IP holders set rules for how their characters can be used in Sora and will share revenue when users generate videos featuring those characters. This moves compensation beyond training data toward usage‑based licensing for generative outputs, akin to an ASCAP‑style model for video. — If platforms normalize royalties and granular controls for character IP, it could reset copyright norms and business models across AI media, fan works, and entertainment.

Sources

Partly AI-Generated Folk-Pop Hit Barred From Sweden's Official Charts
msmash 2026.01.16 88% relevant
The article documents an industry response to AI‑created musical content that parallels the earlier idea about platforms and rights‑holders demanding royalties and usage rules for AI‑generated likenesses: here IFPI Sweden denies chart status to a partly AI‑generated 'artist', the same ecosystem (labels, collecting societies, platforms) that would demand payment and provenance if AI content displaces human performers.
Amazon Is Making a Fallout Shelter Competition Reality TV Show
BeauHD 2026.01.16 45% relevant
The piece mentions tie‑ins between the Fallout Shelter game and the show; that commercial cross‑use of characters and likenesses is relevant to ongoing debates about how platform holders and IP owners monetize fictional characters and whether new licensing/royalty regimes (including for synthetic media) will be required.
Wikipedia Signs AI Licensing Deals On Its 25th Birthday
msmash 2026.01.15 90% relevant
Both items address platforms demanding payment/controls from AI builders for using creative, identity‑bearing content; Wikipedia’s deals function like enterprise licensing that parallels the idea of usage‑based payments/rights (the AP article notes Wikimedia asking AI firms to 'chip in' and Google previously signed on). This is a direct instance of platforms moving from implicit, scraped inputs toward paid, governed access.
Warhammer Maker Games Workshop Bans Its Staff From Using AI In Its Content or Designs
BeauHD 2026.01.15 75% relevant
The company’s IP‑protection stance (no AI content in designs, no unauthorized AI use in competitions) ties to the broader debate over who controls and monetizes character likenesses and generative outputs—precisely the commercial/rights issues addressed in proposals for royalties and usage controls for AI‑generated media.
Matthew McConaughey Trademarks Himself To Fight AI Misuse
msmash 2026.01.14 60% relevant
McConaughey’s move to trademark short audiovisual snippets and a catchphrase is in the same policy space as efforts to require platforms to share revenue or set licensing rules for AI use of characters and voices; while trademarks differ from usage‑royalty regimes, both are operational strategies celebrities and rights‑holders are using to monetize/control synthetic copies.
HarperCollins Will Use AI To Translate Harlequin Romance Novels
msmash 2026.01.06 45% relevant
Though focused on translation rather than character generation, the HarperCollins move foregrounds the same IP and compensation questions that the idea addresses—who gets paid and under what terms when machine processes create or transform copyrighted literary works—and could accelerate demands for new licensing/royalty regimes.
Fleischer Studios Criticized for Claiming Betty Boop is Not Public Domain
EditorDavid 2026.01.04 85% relevant
Both pieces concern what legal rights survive when a character’s early works fall into the public domain and how rights‑holders attempt to keep control: Fleischer Studios’ claim about Betty Boop is the concrete example of the same problem that motivates proposals to gate AI character use or to create usage‑based royalties.
Japanese Devs Face Font Licensing Dilemma as Annual Costs Increase From $380 To $20K
BeauHD 2025.12.03 60% relevant
Both cases concern how rights‑holders and platform/rights intermediaries monetize creative assets and extract rents from creators: the article names Monotype (a major licensor) replacing Fontworks LETS with an expensive plan, mirroring the broader trend (noted in the existing idea) where platform rules and licensing regimes create new recurring fees and revenue‑sharing regimes that reshape who can produce and who gets paid.
Viral Song Created with Suno's genAI Removed From Streaming Platforms, Re-Released With Human Vocals
EditorDavid 2025.11.29 62% relevant
The re‑release with human vocals and industry reluctance to accept partially AI‑generated works connects to the broader shift toward usage‑based licensing and revenue‑sharing models for synthetic likenesses; the labels’ enforcement actions signal pressure for licensing/royalty regimes for AI outputs that imitate artists’ voices.
Japan Asks OpenAI To Stop Sora 2 From Infringing on 'Irreplaceable Treasures' Anime and Manga
msmash 2025.10.15 74% relevant
Japan’s Cabinet Office asked OpenAI to stop Sora 2 from using copyrighted anime/game characters and warned of legal measures, directly reinforcing the need for output‑level licensing and revenue sharing frameworks for characters in generative AI.
Hollywood Demands Copyright Guardrails from Sora 2 - While Users Complain That's Less Fun
EditorDavid 2025.10.13 87% relevant
Studios, unions, and agencies demand control and compensation for characters and performers in Sora 2, while OpenAI claims rightsholders also want inclusion—exactly the scenario where platforms move from free use toward licensed, revenue‑sharing character/IP generation.
Sam Altman Promises Copyright Holders More Control Over Sora's Character Generation - and Revenue Sharing
EditorDavid 2025.10.05 100% relevant
Sam Altman’s announcement that Sora will add granular rightsholder controls and start sharing revenue with those who allow their characters to be generated.
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