Artificial intelligence (ai) has transformed the creative landscape by generating literary works, painting, music, software code, and others form of artistic expression with minimal or no direct human intervention. These various new development challenges the traditional principles of copyright law, which is basically based on the assumption the creativity originates from a human author. As ai systems increasingly participate in the creative process, these questions lies at the heart of the evolving global and distinctly Indian, legal debate on ai-generated works and the future authorship, ownership, and accountability in the age of artificial intelligence. This paper synthesizes whether ai-generated works should receive copyright protection and if so then who should be recognized as the legal owner. Legally the study analyses the copyright act, 1957, international copyright instruments such as the WIPO copyright treaty, the trips agreement, the berne convention, and compares legal approaches adopted in India the United States, the United Kingdom, the European union, and China. It further evaluates landmark judicial decisions that have shaped the debate on originality and authorship in relation to emerging technologies. The paper argues that existing copyright laws are inadequate to address the unique challenges posed by autonomous ai systems. While jurisdiction differ in their treatment of ai- generated works, there remains no universally accepted legal framework governing ownership and protection. The study recommends legislative reforms that preserve incentives for innovation while maintaining the fundamental principle that copyright exists to encourage human creativity. It concludes that carefully balanced legal reforms are essential to ensure certainty, fairness, and sustainable development in the evolving digital economy.