The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs to update its intellectual property (IP) frameworks to protect the region's creative industry from generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to Isla Lipana & Co./PwC Philippines.

Speaking at a briefing, Mary Jade T. Roxas-Divinagracia, managing partner for Deals and Corporate Finance at PwC Philippines, said current IP frameworks at both the regional level and across ASEAN's national members have yet to explicitly address works generated by AI.

"I don't think there is any (framework) at the moment, even at the national level. I think… we're still talking about products of human intellect. It does not yet address artificial intelligence," she said.

Ms. Roxas-Divinagracia noted that the rapid pace of technological change has opened legal gray areas, particularly where generative AI models — systems capable of producing text, images, audio, and video — are trained on existing creative assets or used to synthesize new content. AI tools, she explained, can make minimal modifications to uploaded creative output to produce derivative works, or generate short films featuring digital likenesses of actors, without clear rules governing rights and ownership.

"When you do generative AI, if you upload any creative output, it can just make changes to it minimally and then generate a new one," she said. "It's a combination of human intellect, perhaps, and then enhanced by artificial intelligence. Once that's generated, who will own it? That has not been defined yet, unfortunately."

That gap carries weight because copyright regimes have traditionally been built around human authorship, leaving hybrid human-and-machine output in undefined territory across much of the region.

While copyright law in the Philippines provides established protection for registered human-made output, enforcement and legal maturity vary widely across ASEAN member states. Smaller members are still drafting basic IP legislation, fragmenting how rights are protected across borders.

Ms. Roxas-Divinagracia stressed that the broader questions of managing AI infringement and ownership of AI-generated output remain under global study. Technology continues to evolve faster than regional regulation, creating an urgent need for updated policies that safeguard creator rights while encouraging micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to adopt AI tools for production and localization. Until clearer rules emerge, creators and businesses putting AI-assisted work to commercial use operate without defined ownership.

Despite these legal hurdles, AI is not expected to diminish the value of human creativity. "The economics will change for sure, but it will not remove the value of the creative minds," she added.

PwC research cited at the briefing estimates that selected ASEAN creative industries generated an aggregate value of about $300 billion in 2025, supported by roughly 30 million creative professionals and 700 million content consumers across the region. Exports of creative goods and services from selected ASEAN economies were estimated at $150 billion in 2024.

Globally, creative services exports stood at $1.7 trillion in 2024, while creative goods exports accounted for $709 billion.

The industry remains heavily MSME-led, spanning small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers across film, game development, animation, fashion, and the performing arts.

PwC researchers found that 67% of ASEAN stakeholders view digital transformation, including AI tools, as the primary driver of growth and value creation. However, digital infrastructure, skills, AI readiness, and governance remain uneven across member states, with 54% of respondents still describing their creative economies as predominantly developing. How quickly those gaps close — and whether IP frameworks catch up with AI-generated works — is the open question shaping the region's creative economy.

This report was originally published by BusinessWorld on Sept. 20, 2026, with reporting by Juliana Chloe A. Gonzales.: BusinessWorld Online