Artificial Intelligence, Digital Cultural Heritage Rights, and International Law: A Digital Humanities Study of Pakistan and India

Abstract

This study examines the effects of the use of Artificial Intelligence in the digitalization of cultural heritage on the assumption of ownership, rights and governance of digital cultural memory. The digitization of collections brings new copyright and ethical issues of control and use to the forefront as AI allows the documentation, interpretation and reproduction of heritage materials, and their dissemination in new forms. It seeks answers to the following questions: What does ownership, access and governance of AI mediated cultural heritage mean in the context of international cultural heritage law and what does a comparison of the two countries reveal about the approaches and the regulatory needs in the two countries? It explores the connection between intellectual property, cultural rights, community interests, and digital sovereignty and the difference between ownership of the physical heritage and rights and responsibilities for its digital representation and for uses of it generated by AI. The methodology adopts a multi-paradigmatic approach that involves a doctrinal analysis of various relevant instruments and national legal frameworks of the international community and document and metadata analysis of selected initiatives in digital heritage in Pakistan, compared with the Indian reference point. The analysis will examine the appropriation of contemporary legal frameworks and norms, and institutional approaches, for the purposes of placing the concept of attribution, consent, access, reuse and accountability in digital systems, including through the visibility and representation of heritage. This abstract does not contain empirical findings as the materials have not yet been analysed. Conclusions will be drawn on the basis of the completed legal and documentary analysis. The study is an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the concepts of ownership and governance of AI-based heritage, and seeks to provide guidance for culturally sustainable policies, institutional stewardship and protection of communities whose heritage is captured digitally or for use in AI systems.