As AI Floods the Internet, New Book Calls for a New Economic Model

Swiss copyright scholar, attorney, and musician argues for shared governance and fair remuneration in the digital economy

As generative AI reshapes the creative industries, a growing question is moving to the center of the digital economy: who gets paid when platforms profit from human creativity?

Recent developments have intensified the debate. OpenAI’s newly released Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age presents an expansive vision for the future economy, while streaming platform Deezer reports that AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of newly uploaded music. At the same time, ongoing disputes between AI music companies and major record labels have raised concerns about the uncompensated use of creative works for AI training.

In his new book, Creative Value Chains: Copyright and Beyond for a Better Value Distribution (Bristol University Press, published May 28, 2026), Yaniv Benhamou argues that today’s digital economy is built on a largely invisible workforce: creators, users, digital workers, and audiences whose data, attention, and cultural production generate enormous value but receive little compensation or governance power in return.

Benhamou examines how current copyright and platform models concentrate value among a small number of intermediaries while weakening the position of musicians, writers, artists, and other cultural workers. Drawing on two decades of research and professional practice, he proposes a new framework grounded in distributive justice, collective participation, and shared governance.

The book outlines practical and systemic reforms, including:

• shared ownership and governance models for streaming, sharing, and AI platforms;
• new remuneration mechanisms for creators and digital workers; and
• pooled data governance structures enabling users to collectively negotiate and receive compensation when their data and labor generate economic value.

“Creative labour powers the digital economy, yet most of the value flows elsewhere,” says Benhamou. “If AI systems and digital platforms depend on human creativity, participation, and data, then the people who generate that value should have a meaningful share in governance and remuneration.”

The book has already attracted attention from scholars across intellectual property, technology law, and the arts. Alain Strowel, a leading scholar in international and European copyright law at Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles and Université catholique de Louvain, called Creative Value Chains a:

“MUST READ for those who want to understand the complexities of today’s vivid debate on ‘copyright grappling with GenAI,’ and to design possible solutions that pay attention to the various interests, market constraints and policy objectives behind this legacy institution.”

Yaniv Benhamou is Professor of Copyright and Digital Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva, an attorney-at-law, and a practicing musician. For more than 20 years, his work has focused on copyright, digital platforms, creative industries, and technology regulation.

Creative Value Chains: Copyright and Beyond for a Better Value Distribution will be published by Bristol University Press on May 28, 2026, and will be available open access in digital format from the date of publication.

Book Information

Title: Creative Value Chains: Copyright and Beyond for a Better Value Distribution
Author: Yaniv Benhamou
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Publication Date: May 28, 2026
Open Access: Available digitally from publication date

Media, interview, or speaking requests:
bahar.muller@bristol.ac.uk

Press release_Benhamou_As AI Floods the Internet, New Book Calls for a New Economic Model_EN

This is an executive summary of the book, Creative Value Chains: Copyright and Beyond for a Better Value Distribution (Bristol University Press, 2026), which addresses the growing concentration of value in the digital and AI age—particularly the value derived from creative and intellectual labor within the creative economy.

While Captcha are supposed to protect websites from malicious bots, they are mainly used to collect user data by offloading a form of disguised labor onto users. This work would be worth $6.1 billion in wages. The fight against tech giants starts with CAPTCHAs. Explanations from Yaniv Benhamou, professor of digital and information law at the University of Geneva (Switzerland).

“We are becoming slaves to the machine, which uses us as a labor force to strengthen itself and enrich its owner. We should develop new models for sharing value, for example through data cooperatives that would negotiate with platforms and redistribute compensation to internet users, similar to copyright management organizations (e.g., SACEM) or music labels that manage rights with platforms.”