Am I an AI Thief?
- S B
- Sep 19
- 4 min read
AI, Authorship, Films, and Lawsuits
If I am an AI thief, why does my work look so much like me?
In the last year, multiple lawsuits have been filed against generative AI companies such as MidJourney, Stability AI, and others, with media giants seeking potentially large damages, including up to $150,000 per infringed work in some suits.
In June 2025, Disney and NBCUniversal sued MidJourney, alleging copyright infringement for enabling users to generate images of characters like Darth Vader, Shrek, and The Simpsons without permission. Then in September 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery filed its own lawsuit, arguing that MidJourney allowed unauthorized reproductions of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Bugs Bunny, and more.
Yet not all studios are opposed to AI. IMAX has partnered with Runway to screen AI short films, Lionsgate has built custom AI tools with Runway, and Netflix recently used generative AI in its show El Eternauta to create a building collapse scene more efficiently than traditional VFX.
These legal battles force us all to ask: who owns what in the age of AI? Who gets credit? Who gets paid? And beyond the law, who gets to tell stories?
Am I an AI Thief? The Paradox of Authorship
My creative process is not passive or mechanical. For a single short film, I might generate hundreds of AI-rendered images, only to select around 30 that feel right. Then I refine those with follow-up prompts, adjusting lighting, facial expressions, posture, and even tiny details like how sleeves fold or the direction of a gaze, to preserve character consistency. I layer in texture, fabric pattern, color tones, and background ambiance, all chosen to evoke memory, lineage, and place.
So when my work looks like me, it is not a glitch. It is because every decision, from prompting technique to image selection and editing, is intentional and guided by my vision of who I want these characters and stories to be.
The Untold Stories
AI filmmaking lowers the barrier to entry. With it, I can tell stories that mainstream media hasn't told.
I recently created a film for a Google creative challenge that celebrates Jamaica, not through the lens of violence or poverty that dominates mainstream narratives, but through landscapes, culture, and everyday dignity. A woman enjoying ackee and saltfish for breakfast. White sand beaches. A reggae track I composed with AI to accompany the visuals. Ackee and saltfish is the national dish of Jamaica. This is my heritage.
Technically, it may be one of my best films to date: time lapse effects, rain falling onto a bus window, crisp imagery, characters speaking, and a consistent character carried across the entire story. Built by just AI and me.
The first AI film I ever created, River of Inheritance, drew inspiration from Nanny of the Maroons, a Jamaican national hero whose story rarely appears in international cinema. Again, I deliberately avoided the trauma narratives typically showcased in Caribbean stories. Instead, I focused on strength, heritage, and humanity.
And at the center of these works are women. Women as leaders. Women as teachers. Women of all ages. Women being human. Women with agency. Women with dignity. Featuring women in these roles is not just a choice, it is a deliberate act of representation in a space where they are too often sidelined or erased.
These are not stories Hollywood has told. This is not theft. This is reclamation.
Addressing the Counterargument
I believe it is vital to honor the legitimate concerns of creators whose work was used without their knowledge or consent. Photographers, illustrators, and production designers have had their art scraped and their styles mimicked. They deserve recognition and compensation. Ethically, we must push for transparency, licensing agreements, and models of remuneration that do not exploit the labor of others.
But there is a difference between saying the technology has wronged some and saying every use of the technology is theft. If my work is entirely derivative, if I merely copy others without meaningful transformation or contribution, then the critique holds. But I aim for something different.
A More Inclusive Era of Storytelling
So am I an AI thief? Or has AI given untold stories both a voice and a platform?
When I use these tools to honor Nanny of the Maroons, to feature women as leaders and teachers, and to showcase Jamaican culture beyond stereotypes, I am not stealing. I am preserving and celebrating narratives that have been excluded from mainstream media, simply because many people haven't been able to tell their stories until now.
This is what inclusive AI filmmaking looks like when creators from underrepresented communities have access to the tools. It also demonstrates how my use of AI serves cultural preservation rather than commercial exploitation.
I am not a thief.
I am a storyteller using AI tools to document and celebrate stories that simply
haven't been told.
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"AI is the tool, but the vision is human." — Sophia B.
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About the Author
Sophia Banton works at the intersection of AI strategy, communication, and human impact. With a background in bioinformatics, public health, and data science, she brings a grounded, cross-disciplinary perspective to the adoption of emerging technologies.
Beyond technical applications, she explores GenAI’s creative potential through storytelling and short-form video, using experimentation to understand how generative models are reshaping narrative, communication, and visual expression.
