CAN A MACHINE BE AN "AUTHOR"? COPYRIGHT'S IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE AGE OF AI

This article examines the Indian Copyright Office's unresolved treatment of artificial intelligence and authorship, beginning with the 2020 registration and subsequent quiet withdrawal notice concerning Ankit Sahni's AI-assisted artwork Suryast, registered under Section 2(d)(vi) of the Copyright Act, 1957. It then turns to Stephen Thaler's pending Indian copyright application for A Recent Entrance to Paradise, and the Delhi High Court's April 2026 order directing the Registrar of Copyrights to finally decide the question. Drawing a comparison with the UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the more restrictive US position following Thaler v. Perlmutter, the article argues that India's identity crisis on AI authorship is not a product of inadequate statutory language, but of persistent administrative hesitation to apply a provision that has existed since 1994.