Balancing Innovation and Equity: The Global South’s Role in Shaping AI Copyright Policy
https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2026-13-1-56-75
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now playing a major part in changing creative and knowledge economies around the world. However, policies guiding this change are primarily still led by the Global North, which may result in policies being formulated without taking into account the Global South. The article proposes an inclusive governance framework aimed at preventing digital colonization and argues that the framework must lower market barriers for Southern innovators. The article suggests different measures based on recent regional experiences. These examples include India’s case against OpenAI and also the Text and Data Mining (TDM) strategies of Latin America and the governance initiatives in Africa. Key measures include making AI training data disclosures and consent, using community-based models that formally recognize collective and indigenous authorship and benefit sharing with creators in the Global South.
About the Authors
A. AnejaUzbekistan
Arti Aneja – Research Fellow, Tashkent State University of Law; Senior Assistant Professor, Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi
Delhi, 110007, India
A. Shrivastava
India
Ankit Shrivastava – Assistant Professor, Symbiosis Law School, Noida Campus, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India; PhD Scholar, National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi
Noida, 201301, India
References
1. Ayana, G., et al. (2024). Decolonizing global AI governance: Assessment of the state of decolonized AI governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Royal Society Open Science, 11(8), 231994. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231994
2. Buick, A. (2025). Copyright and AI training data—transparency to the rescue? Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 20(3), 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpae102
3. Chauhan, K. (2025). Generative AI, text & data mining and the fair dealing doctrine: Examining the new problem with the old regime. Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, 30, 77–85. https://doi.org/10.56042/jipr.v30i1.12652
4. Cheong, B. Ch. (2024). Transparency and accountability in AI systems: Safeguarding wellbeing in the age of algorithmic decision-making. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2024.1421273c
5. Cyman, D., Gromova E., & Juchnevicius, E. (2021). Regulation of artificial intelligence in BRICS and the European Union. BRICS Law Journal, 8(1), 86–115. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2021-8-1-86-115
6. Fan, M. D. (2021). The right to benefit from big data as a public resource. New York University Law Review, 96, 1438–1492.
7. Farhad, Sh. (2025). Passengers in flight: AI governance capacity in the Global South. Digital Society, 4, article number 39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44206-025-00195-6
8. Fisher, A., & Nathani, Z. (2024, February 19). Association of Southeast Asian Nations provides guidance on AI governance and ethics. Linklaters. https://techinsights.linklaters.com/post/102j06t/association-of-southeast-asian-nations-providesguidance-on-ai-governance-and-eth
9. Gladun, E., & Zadorin, M. (2023). The system of indigenous peoples’ protection in BRICS states: An overview of legal and litigation support. BRICS Law Journal, 10(4), 121–141. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2023-10-4-121-141
10. Gromova, E. A., Ferreira, D. B., & Begishev, I. R. (2023). ChatGPT and other intelligent chatbots: Legal, ethical and dispute resolution concerns. Revista Brasileira de Alternative Dispute Resolution, 5(10), 153–175. https://doi.org/10.52028/rbadr.v5i10.ART07.RU
11. Gromova, E., & Ferreira, D. B. (2024). On the way to BRICS+ digital sovereignty: Opportunities and challenges of a new Era. BRICS Law Journal, 11(3), 54–69. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2024-11-3-54-69
12. Gromova, E., Koneva, N. S., &Titova, E.V. (2022). Legal barriers to the implementation of digital industry (Industry 4.0) components and ways to overcome them. Journal of World Intellectual Property, 25, 186–205. https://doi.org/10.1111/jwip.12215
13. Haryono, H., et al. (2024). Intellectual property rights in BRICS countries: Legal frameworks, enforcement challenges, and economic implications. West Science Interdisciplinary Studies, 2(12), 2494–2501. https://doi.org/10.58812/wsis.v2i12.1550
14. Kamaruddin, S., et al. (2025). The legal paradigm of generative AI in Malaysia and India: Problems and prospects. In 2024 International conferenceonartificial intelligence and emerging technology (global AI summit), Greater Noida, India, April, IEEE (pp. 413– 417). https://doi.org/10.1109/GlobalAISummit62156.2024.10948005
15. Kharitonova, Yu. S. (2023). Legal means of providing the principle of transparency of the artificial intelligence. Journal of Digital Technologies and Law, 1(2), 337–358. https://doi.org/10.21202/jdtl.2023.14
16. Kharitonova, Yu., Malik, N. S., & Yang, T. (2023). The legal issue of deterrence of algorithmic control of digital platforms: The experience of China, the European Union, Russia and India. BRICS Law Journal, 10(1), 147–170. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2023-10-1-147-170
17. Muldoon, J., & Wu, B. A. (2023). Artificial intelligence in the colonial matrix of power. Philosophy & Technology, 36, Article 80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-023-00687-8
18. Pandya, D. (2025, March 7). The Global South AI copyright’s test case: India. Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). https://cepa.org/article/the-global-south-aicopyrights-test-case-india/
19. Park, S. (2024). Bridging the global divide in AI regulation: A proposal for a contextual, coherent, and commensurable framework. Washington International Law Journal, 33(2), 216–269. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4950781
20. Peter, K. Yu. (2024). The future path of artificial intelligence and copyright law in the Asian Pacific (Texas A&M University School of Law Research Paper No. 24-18).
21. Png, M.-T. (2022). At the tensions of South and North: Critical roles of Global South stakeholders in AI governance. FAccT Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 22, 1434–1445. https://doi.org/10.1145/3531146.353320
22. Quang, J. (2021). Does training AI violate copyright law? Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 36, 1407–1436. https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38XW47X3K
23. Quintais, J. P. (2020). The new copyright in the digital single market directive: A critical look. European Intellectual Property Review, 42, 28–41. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3424770
24. Tan, D., & Lee, T. (2021). Copying right in copyright law: Fair use, computational data analysis and the personal data protection act. Singapore Academy of Law Journal, 33, 1032.
25. Ueno, T. (2021). The flexible copyright exception for “non-enjoyment”purposes— recent amendment in Japan and its implication. GRUR International, 70(2), 145–152. https://doi.org/10.1093/grurint/ikaa184
26. Upadhyay, N. K. (2024). BRICS expansion: A comprehensive analysis of global power shifts and economic integration. BRICS Law Journal, 11(3), 5–8. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2024-11-3-5-8
27. Xalabarder, R. (2024). Scoping study on the practices and challenges of research institutions and research purposes in relation to copyright (WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, Document SCCR/44/4 REV).
28. Ziaja, G. M. (2024). The text and data mining opt-out in article 4(3) CDSMD: Adequate veto right for rightholders or a suffocating blanket for European artificial intelligence innovations? Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, 19(5), 453–459. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpae02
Review
For citations:
Aneja A., Shrivastava A. Balancing Innovation and Equity: The Global South’s Role in Shaping AI Copyright Policy. BRICS Law Journal. 2026;13(1):56-75. https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2026-13-1-56-75
JATS XML






























