Generative AI as Co-Author in Creative Practice: Authorship, Originality, and Aesthetics (2020-Present)

Kato Nabirye H.

Faculty of Business, Kampala International University, Uganda

                                                                                 ABSTRACT
Since 2020, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems have increasingly functioned as co-authors within creative practice, reshaping established understandings of authorship, originality, and aesthetics. This study critically examines the evolving role of GenAI in artistic production across visual arts, literature, music, performance, and multimodal creation. It situates GenAI within theoretical traditions of authorship, drawing on Foucauldian and post-structuralist perspectives, while interrogating the implications of machine participation in processes traditionally reserved for human creativity. The analysis explores shifting notions of originality in an era of algorithmic recombination and data-driven generation, highlighting tensions between novelty, replication, and cultural reuse. It further considers aesthetic evaluation in AI-augmented works, focusing on criteria such as contextual significance, novelty, replicability, and human–machine collaboration. Legal, ethical, and institutional dimensions are also addressed, particularly concerning attribution, intellectual property, bias, and accountability. Through case-based reflections on contemporary creative practices, the study demonstrates how GenAI operates not merely as a tool but as an active participant in iterative creative processes. Ultimately, it argues that GenAI does not abolish traditional frameworks of creativity but instead transforms and extends them, requiring new conceptual, pedagogical, and policy-oriented approaches to authorship in the digital age.

Keywords: Generative AI, Co-authorship, Creativity, Originality, and Aesthetics

CITE AS: Kato Nabirye H. (2026). Generative AI as Co-Author in Creative Practice: Authorship, Originality, and Aesthetics (2020-Present). IDOSR JOURNAL OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES 12(1):65-75. https://doi.org/10.59298/IDOSRJAH/2025/1216575