AI art sparks global copyright battle
Part of composite article AI or Artists? The Fight for Creative Careers View full article →
Can a machine-made meme own itself? 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. The teen used OpenAI's image tool to make him.
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.
The problem: 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.