The legal boundaries of creativity: exploring how China’s copyright law regulates AI-generated content in video game development

This study employs Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the juridical field to examine how China’s Copyright Law is being adapted to regulate AI-generated content in video game development. It investigates how lawyers, as a key institutional actor, mediate the tension between technological innovations and established copyright doctrines. The analysis shows how intellectual property lawyers extend copyright governance to AI-generated works, balancing the protection of creativity with the state’s strategic priorities for AI development and the need to maintain a vibrant, accessible market. The research identifies a critical need for clearer legal standards on two fronts: the threshold of human creative contribution required for copyrightability, and the provenance of training data used by generative AI systems. These standards are foundational for assessing copyright registration, the scope of protection, and corporate compliance. By framing copyright governance as a form of cultural policy, the study contributes to broader debates on the intersection of copyright law and AI creativity, highlighting a flexible, open-ended, forward-looking approach to legal practices in which technological innovation and copyright protection reinforce each other in China’s video game industry. These insights offer practical guidance for game studios seeking to implement proactive industry self-regulation that harmonises innovation with evolving copyright norms.