Who Owns the Future? AI, IP and Litigation Strategy.

At Loeb’s AI Summit in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to moderate a cross-industry roundtable focused on intellectual property issues arising from AI, with discussion centered on litigation developments, protecting companies from AI-related risk, and identifying strategies to protect and monetize IP assets with new developments in AI. The conversation brought together legal and business leaders from entertainment, technology and media companies, and surfaced themes that cut across industries—from allocating risk in a rapidly evolving legal landscape to thinking strategically about IP as both something to protect and a source of enterprise value. Here are some of the key takeaways from the discussion:

Owning AI risk through governance and contracts: A central theme was that companies cannot outsource AI risk. Participants discussed the importance of internal governance frameworks and contractual protections that address ownership, training data rights, output rights, indemnification, audit rights and allocation of liability. In a legal environment that remains unsettled, the discussion focused on using contracts and governance not just to mitigate exposure, but to proactively manage IP risk.

Keeping pace with litigation developments: The group discussed the growing body of litigation involving copyright, publicity rights, training data and output-related claims, and how those developments are shaping practical approaches to risk. While many issues remain unresolved, participants emphasized the importance of monitoring case law both defensively and offensively—to assess litigation exposure, inform licensing strategy and better understand where risks and leverage may lie.

Protecting and monetizing intellectual property in the AI ecosystem: A major focus was how companies are thinking about proprietary content, data and catalogs not only as assets to defend, but as assets that may be licensed, leveraged or monetized in connection with AI. Participants discussed balancing protection with opportunity, including evaluating uses of owned or controlled IP in training, licensing and AI-enabled business models. The discussion underscored that IP strategy increasingly involves both preservation and value creation.

The roundtable highlighted that as AI continues to reshape the IP landscape, companies are focused not only on protecting against risk, but also on using legal strategy to position themselves for opportunity. Proactive governance, attention to litigation developments and strategic thinking around protection and monetization emerged as critical themes for navigating the next phase of AI adoption.