https://doi.org/10.4081/peasa.83

Protected works, unprotected meaning?

Art, AI, and the limits of copyright: Bartók’s source ethics in the age of AI

Vol. 5 (2026)
Published: September 21, 2026
AI and copyright, cultural governance, source ethics, Béla Bartók, Walter Benjamin, digital-cultural sovereignty
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The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has intensified fundamental questions at the intersection of art, new technologies, and copyright. While copyright remains indispensable for protecting works, authorship, and certain economic interests, it does not fully address the broader cultural and normative concerns raised by AI systems trained on, and operating through, vast bodies of artistic and cultural material. This article argues that contemporary copyright debates should be situated within a wider inquiry into legitimacy, responsibility, and cultural governance. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s reflections on aura and Béla Bartók’s ethos of the pure source, it suggests that the central challenge of the AI age lies not only in protecting works, but also in safeguarding contextual meaning, communal significance, and the integrity of the relation between cultural materials and their sources. Its distinctive contribution is a source-ethics framework that connects provenance, contextual integrity, participation, traceability, and fair benefit-sharing as practical complements to copyright.

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How to Cite

1.
Soós G. Protected works, unprotected meaning? Art, AI, and the limits of copyright: Bartók’s source ethics in the age of AI. Proceed Eur Acad Sci Arts [Internet]. 2026 Sep. 21 [cited 2026 Sep. 22];5. Available from: https://www.peasa.eu/site/article/view/83
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