Ashlee Difuntorum’s recent Forbes article, “Audible’s New AI Stories Test The Boundaries Of Copyright Law,” examines the copyright questions raised by Audible’s new Interactive Story feature, which allows listeners to have real-time conversations with AI-powered literary characters.
“The feature lands squarely in the middle of the most contested legal questions about AI and copyright law,” Ashlee writes. “Could Audible expand the new feature to its entire catalog without infringing copyrights? And when listeners participate, do they create their own copyrights?
The platform is starting with its own production of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. However, Ashlee explains, “Audible controls the rights to its production of Dracula, a public domain work. But Audible’s catalog contains hundreds of thousands of titles owned by others.” She notes that this raises larger questions about what could happen if Audible eventually expands the technology across its broader catalog.
Ashlee also explores whether Audible’s existing licenses would allow it to use copyrighted characters to generate new dialogue and content, as many existing licensing agreements were created before generative AI was part of the conversation, and who owns the content listeners create when they participate in an AI-generated story.
With courts still working through some of the most fundamental questions surrounding AI and copyright, Ashlee highlights how new forms of interactive entertainment are pushing those questions into uncharted territory.
“Audible’s Interactive Story feature adds a new layer about what AI and humans create together in real time and who owns the result,” she concludes. “The answers will matter well beyond audiobooks.”
