Weekly Column: AI Is Creating Media Rights Issues No One Negotiated

In this week’s column, California Sports Lawyer® CEO and Managing Attorney Jeremy M. Evans explores how AI is transforming entertainment and sports media creation, focusing on the contractual gaps that emerge when agreements do not keep pace with the technology and its use.

The conclusion of the matter is that talent and technology will have to find a middle ground as long as generative AI use is allowed and acceptable to audiences as an alternative content product.

You can read the full column below. (Past columns can be found, here).

Entertainment and sports media is changing in its creation and delivery. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already embedded in entertainment, media, and sports workflows, which is quietly reshaping how content and commentary is created and delivered. Reuters, for example, has reported and provided education on the use of AI in content creation with the hope of streamlining, enhancing, automating, and balancing technology with trust and ethics.

The use of AI has been expanding its roles in media use. AI is no longer just assisting—it is generating highlights, summaries, commentary, and personalized feeds. SportsPro reports that AI-powered tools are not only assisting in broadcasting technology and highlights, but in storytelling. The idea is that content can be both immediate and interactive in ways that were not available before the introduction of the technology and AI capabilities like Amazon Web Services (AWS). The balance will be in finding what resonates with viewers and what feels forced or less human and interactive and it could be that those two things are not mutually exclusive.

However, as technology and innovation increases, it often takes time for contracts to catch-up to the change. A contract gap is created because most media rights agreements were drafted before generative AI and did not contemplate machine-created outputs or training uses. The fact that generative AI was not contemplated in existing agreements is proven by the various court cases alleging copyright infringement. Contracts and internal policies should reflect how AI is being used in practice, not in theory, and lawyers need clear insight into those tools to identify and manage emerging risks for clients.

The use of generative AI platforms to create content is further exasperated in contracts when used to replicate the name, image, and likeness of real-life journalists and celebrities. AI replication of voices, images, and personalities introduces publicity and labor concerns that contracts rarely address or contemplate. The use of AI is not limited to the living. NBC used an AI-generated voice of the late Jim Fagan in its NBA coverage in 2025. SAG-AFTRA has negotiated its labor deals to protect actors and related talent and the California legislature has placed legal limitations on the use of publicity rights of deceased persons. Practically speaking, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, has signaled that the union’s strategy around AI would include making the use of AI-generated “synthetic performers” as costly as hiring human actors in an effort to discourage substitution and protect member livelihoods.

As AI use accelerates in entertainment, media, sports, and beyond, rights holders and talent are responding through contract terms and licensing, litigation inside and outside the courtroom, and labor agreements. AI’s impact on sports and entertainment media is already here—the unresolved issue is who controls and benefits from what AI creates. The conclusion of the matter is that talent and technology will have to find a middle ground as long as generative AI use is allowed and acceptable to audiences as an alternative content product.

About Jeremy M. Evans:

Jeremy M. Evans is the Chief Entrepreneur Officer, Founder & Managing Attorney at California Sports Lawyer®, representing entertainment, media, and sports clients in contractual, intellectual property, and dealmaking matters. Evans is an award-winning attorney and industry leader based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at Jeremy@CSLlegal.com. www.CSLlegal.com.