Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp has spent decades at the intersection of entertainment, technology, and intellectual property. We have counseled the creative industries through the rise of home video, the internet, digital distribution, and the streaming era. Artificial intelligence is the next inflection point — and we are shaping how the industry navigates it.

Our AI practice is built on the firm's core strengths in intellectual property, entertainment, labor and employment, privacy, and technology transactions, applied to one of the most legally complex and rapidly evolving fields in modern practice. We bring decades of domain knowledge to bear on problems that require exactly that depth.

What We Do

Rights, Ownership & Infringement

We advise content owners on how to protect and monetize their IP in connection with AI systems — including training data licensing, output ownership questions, and enforcement strategy. We are closely tracking AI-related copyright litigation nationwide and counsel clients on how courts are grappling with issues of fair use, data scraping, and substantial similarity of GenAI outputs. We also advise on the thornier questions of authorship and ownership that arise when AI tools are embedded in the creative process.

Transactions, Vendor Agreements & Operational Integration

We counsel production companies, studios, graphic artists, game developers, and other creative-industry clients through the full arc of AI tool adoption — from vetting and contracting to deployment. On the transactional side, we draft and negotiate vendor agreements with careful attention to licensing terms, data use provisions, indemnification structures, and IP ownership allocations. We also advise on corporate governance and securities law considerations that arise in connection with AI-related technology and entertainment transactions. On the operational side, we advise creative teams on which tools are cleared for use, how to document AI-assisted work for IP purposes, and how to protect sensitive production and client data in the process.

Labor, Employment & Guild Relations

We regularly represent management in negotiations with entertainment industry unions and guilds — including the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the Directors Guild of America (DGA), and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). As AI has moved to the center of labor relations in entertainment, we bring that firsthand experience to advise studios, production companies, streaming platforms, and other industry participants on AI provisions in union and guild agreements across film, television, and video games. We have deep knowledge of the major entertainment union and guild contracts and help clients understand what they can and cannot do with AI tools under existing collective bargaining agreements — and how to negotiate the next generation of those agreements.

Beyond the guild context, we advise employers on the full range of AI-related employment issues including drafting and updating employee handbooks and acceptable use policies to address AI tools in the workplace, advising on AI provisions in employment and contractor agreements, and counseling on the employee privacy and data protection issues that arise when AI systems are deployed internally.

Governance, Privacy & Security

We prepare AI governance policies and data protection frameworks for organizations deploying AI tools internally — covering acceptable use, data handling, employee privacy, and information security. We integrate our cybersecurity and privacy practice into this work, advising on obligations under applicable data protection regimes and helping clients build compliance programs that are ethical and operationally realistic.

Regulatory Compliance

The regulatory landscape is developing quickly and unevenly across jurisdictions. We advise clients on obligations under the EU AI Act, California's AB 2602, AB 1836, AB 2013, and SB 942, New York City Local Law 144, and more. We monitor legislative and regulatory developments across jurisdictions and translate compliance obligations into practical guidance.

Our Perspective

Our attorneys understand the technology — not just its legal implications, but how the systems actually work. We follow the technical literature, understand the mechanics of training and inference, and can engage with engineers and product teams at a level that goes beyond legal formality. That technical fluency, combined with our deep roots in entertainment, intellectual property, and labor relations, means we can spot issues early, structure deals to address real risks, and advise creative clients who are trying to move quickly while minimizing exposure to legal risk.

representative matters

AI Copyright & IP Counseling

• Advise on copyright risks associated with AI-generated creative content, including clearance procedures for AI-assisted imagery, risk of infringement claims from training data, and E&O insurability of AI-generated works used in film and television production.
• Represent content owners in protecting their intellectual property against unauthorized use in AI training datasets and model outputs, including engage with major AI companies to establish guardrails around reproduction of copyrighted characters, settings, voice performances, and audiovisual assets.

AI & Digital Likeness Risk Assessment

• Analyze the legal risks of using licensed stock imagery as inputs for AI-generated video content, including right-of-publicity implications, state digital replica statutes, and biometric privacy laws.
• Advise on emerging disclosure requirements for synthetic performers in advertising and commercially distributed content.

AI Tool & Vendor Evaluation

• Conduct comprehensive legal reviews of AI tool terms of service, analyzing data training practices, IP ownership, commercial use rights, and confidentiality protections to build approved-tool frameworks for entertainment and creative industry clients.
• Develop standardized evaluation criteria and vendor checklists that enable clients to efficiently assess new AI tools as they emerge, including risk-tiered classification systems (e.g., tools approved for internal use only vs. tools cleared for client-facing deliverables).

AI Vendor Contract Negotiation

• Negotiate and redline enterprise AI service agreements with major AI platforms, addressing critical issues such as confidentiality of customer content, IP ownership of outputs, indemnification for AI-generated content, data training opt-outs, and unilateral terms-of-service modification provisions.
• Structure bespoke agreements for AI-assisted content creation partnerships between entertainment companies and AI platform providers, including ownership of inputs, outputs, and derivative works, exclusivity provisions, and marketing rights.

AI Policy Development

• Draft and implement company-wide AI usage policies for entertainment studios and creative agencies, establishing clear guardrails around permissible use of AI tools, confidentiality protections, approval workflows, and IP clearance procedures.
• Develop AI codes of conduct for third-party vendor relationships, ensuring that vendors' use of AI tools in creating deliverables aligns with clients' IP, privacy, and content ownership requirements.

AI Governance & Compliance

• Develop internal AI governance frameworks for law firms and other professional services organizations, structured around the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, incorporating risk tiering, approval workflows, and ongoing monitoring protocols.
• Counsel clients on navigating AI-related contractual provisions embedded in broader software and platform agreements, including data-use provisions that may implicate AI training even where AI features are not the primary product.

AI-Powered Legal Technology

• Review and negotiate implementation agreements for AI-powered contract lifecycle management platforms, including scope of AI features such as automated clause extraction, generative AI redlining, and risk reporting.

Publications

Alerts

Events & Speaking Engagements