What will become of the author?:

Clues for rethinking authorship in times of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

This article analyzes contemporary transformations in the notion of authorship in light of the advancement of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) technologies. The study investigates how the automation of symbolic production challenges classical concepts of creation, originality, and agency, historically grounded in the centrality of the human subject. Through a bibliographic and documentary review encompassing art theory and copyright law, the article discusses the displacement of “manual making” toward the domain of technical decision-making and data curation. Case studies are examined by contrasting ontological perspectives from art theory with the pragmatic imperatives of legal and institutional frameworks. The findings indicate that authorship does not become obsolete but is reconfigured as a function of mediation and intellectual oversight over complex systems. The analysis of the works reveals that authorship in the era of Generative AI manifests through a plurality of tactics that reconfigure human agency: from results curation and process architecture to the construction of handcrafted datasets, relational symbiosis, and inverted automation. The article concludes that authorial agency in the era of GAI resides in the capacity to intervene in regimes of visibility and in ethical responsibility over technical processes, establishing critical curation as a central pillar of contemporary artistic expression.