AI or Artists? The Fight for Creative Careers

AI or Artists? The Fight for Creative Careers

A global copyright battle over an AI-generated meme and a literary scandal at the Frankfurt Book Fair are forcing the creative world to ask whether machines can truly create — and who owns what they make.

· 1 min read ·
AIhuman rightstrade

The future of media depends on artificial intelligence (AI), but one question remains: can creative people build lasting careers in this new era? The real test is not just whether they can create, but whether their originality can survive and grow [1].

That question is now at the heart of an international legal fight. Tung Tung Tung Sahur, nicknamed Triple T, is a popular character from "Italian brain rot" videos. He was created in 2025 by an Indonesian teenager known online as Noxa, who used OpenAI's image tool to make him [2]. The character is based on a kentongan, a drum used in South-east Asia to wake Muslims for their pre-dawn meal during Ramadan. Triple T is a cartoon version of the drum, with a wide smile and empty eyes [2].

The problem: United States (US) copyright law only protects works made by humans. If a character is created by AI, who owns it? That dispute is now a legal case with effects far beyond one meme [2].

The controversy has also reached the publishing world. AI is the hot topic at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, where an international literary scandal has raised questions about machine-generated texts. Industry leaders are asking whether computers can truly create literature — or just imitate it [3].

Sources

AI or Artists? The Fight for Creative Careers #260710AI art sparks global copyright battle #255633AI or Author? Frankfurt Book Fair Rocked by Literary Scandal #258392

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