Hollywood studios are exploring AI to create characters and franchises of their own, but the copyright question could make those creations difficult to protect. The Ankler reports that a small startup is trying to help document where human work ends and AI begins, though it cannot guarantee copyright protection.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
Entrepreneur Nelson Chu told The Ankler he had spent months speaking with several dozen studio executives. The publication reports that some want to use AI to generate their own intellectual property, even as the industry fights the unauthorised use of its existing work by AI companies.
Chu’s six-person startup, Arcos Labs, has developed technology intended to document what people create and what AI generates. The idea is to help studios establish human contributions to AI-assisted work. The Ankler stresses that the technology cannot guarantee copyright, and that the legal questions remain unsettled.
Why it matters
For studios, a new character is only valuable as a long-term franchise if they can control and monetise it. AI may make creating stories and characters easier, but uncertainty over ownership could leave companies with work they cannot reliably protect. That turns the question of who made what into more than a matter of creative credit.
Our read
The irony is hard to miss: studios want protection from AI training on their work, while looking for ways to use AI on their own. Arcos Labs is betting that a record of human involvement might help bridge that gap. Useful paperwork is not the same thing as a legal guarantee, however, and Hollywood may find that the most important creative input is proving who did what.
What to watch
- Whether studios test Arcos Labs’ documentation technology.
- How copyright decisions treat work made with AI assistance.
- Whether studios can turn AI-generated characters into protectable, commercially valuable franchises.
Discussion spark: If AI helps create a character, what level of human contribution should be enough for a studio to claim ownership?
Sources and evidence
- Behind Closed Doors, Studios Want AI to Make Hits. There's a Catch – The Ankler (16 October 2026, 19:41 UTC)
Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.