of techniques including encryption, client-side watermarking, application security, network security, resources protection, web monitoring, piracy intelligence and legal action,” says Synamedia’ s Durand.“ Educational campaigns to explain the impact of piracy and how to recognise a legitimate versus an illegal offer are also hugely important.” AI. Is AI an ally – or is it a zero-sum game as the criminals have it too?“ AI can assist in detecting and flagging pirated content, analysing user behaviour, and predicting piracy trends,” notes Herovanu.“ However, criminals also utilise AI to create more sophisticated methods of piracy, leading to a constant arms race. The potential lies in using AI collaboratively to better protect rights while also combating the tools used by infringers.
“ AI is both a powerful defence mechanism and a tool for attackers,” admits de Posada.“ On the positive side, it enables automated piracy detection, enhances the security posture and strengthens fraud prevention. AI-driven systems can monitor content distribution at scale, identifying unusual patterns that indicate unauthorised use. But pirates are also leveraging AI to make their operations more sophisticated, whether it’ s bypassing detection tools, exploring new attack vectors or automating illegal re-streaming. Piracy as a service is becoming increasingly popular, with bad actors adopting automation as a resiliency tool to restore operations as quickly as possible following raids and seizures of their infrastructure by law enforcement agencies,” he notes.
“ AI has also proven very effective when generating social engineering attacks, which ultimately seek gaining access to protected content. This means the fight against piracy isn’ t just about having AI, but applying known best practices when it comes to detection, employee security awareness and content access control.” MEASURES.“ AI is a tool that has specific uses,” suggests Forman.“ As such I wouldn’ t call it net zero, even though pirates use it as well as anti-piracy providers. The difference is in the use case. It’ s clear that AI will be used in an attritional sense – in other words, pirates use it for purpose‘ A’ and anti-piracy providers use it to implement counter measures for purpose‘ A’. However, there are individual use cases that improve specific functionality on either side, and these will vary. And with generative AI enabling the easy manipulation of video and audio content and creation of deepfakes, the need to check the provenance of video and understand whether the content can be trusted is going to intensify as AI becomes more freely available.”
“ AI is both a powerful tool for content protection and a double-edged sword, as pirates are also leveraging it to evade
14 EUROMEDIA detection,” agrees Mulready.“ On the defensive side, AI-driven piracy detection can analyse massive amounts of data to identify illegal streams, watermark tampering, and fraudulent activities more efficiently than manual methods. It enables faster response times and predictive analytics to anticipate emerging threats. However, criminals are using AI to automate content theft, bypass DRM protections, and disguise illegal streams. This ongoing battle underscores the need for continuous AI advancements on the content security side to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated piracy tactics. While AI enhances protection, it requires constant refinement to outmatch the evolving capabilities of digital pirates,” he admits. BATTLE.“ AI plays a critical role in content protection, but it’ s a constant battle because the same technology that rights-holders use to detect piracy is also being leveraged by pirates to circumvent security measures,” acknowledges O’ Donovan.“ AI-driven monitoring systems can analyse traffic patterns and detect anomalies, such as unusually high request rates or concurrent logins from multiple locations, allowing for real-time blocking of unauthorised access. However, pirates are using AI to automate attacks, crack DRM, and distribute stolen content more efficiently. AI is ultimately a tool – so while a criminal might also have access to the same tool set, the side that benefits most is whoever understands how to use the tools most effectively. So, AI is an ally, but only when combined with strong encryption, watermarking, and real-time intervention mechanisms that can adapt to the constant wave of new, emerging threats.”
“ AI is both a challenge and a solution,” states Pearson.“ Bad actors use it to generate deepfakes, bypass security measures and automate attacks. At the same time, AI-driven security tools can detect and neutralise threats faster than ever before. The key is staying ahead. Companies investing in AI for content protection are reacting to piracy while actively predicting and preventing it. Rights holders who ignore AI’ s defensive potential risk falling behind.”
“ The impact of AI has been limited so far but it is likely to be a zero-sum game,” predicts Durand.“ Pirates will undoubtedly use AI to fake or circumvent some techniques and increase the availability of their illegal offers. Meanwhile, companies will continue to develop and invent new techniques leveraging AI to better fight piracy – so whether the overall impact of AI will be positive or negative in fighting piracy is yet to be established.” COLLABORATION. As to how stakeholder co-operation in tackling piracy has evolved and whether governments and regulators can do more, Herovanu suggests that collaboration among rights-holders, technology companies, and law enforcement is constantly improving.“ However, more needs to be done and AAPA is here to try to facilitate more cooperation. Governments can open the door for further cooperation by creating frameworks for information sharing and joint action. Increased regulation and enforcement can help create a more secure environment for content creators,” she adds.
“ The industry has slowly become more coordinated in recent years, with content providers, technology companies and antipiracy organisations working more closely to tackle the issue,” notes de Posada.“ Some streaming services now share intelligence to take down illegal platforms faster, and enforcement actions against large-scale piracy networks have become more aggressive. Governments are also stepping up, introducing stricter regulations and blocking access to known infringing sites.”
“ However, piracy remains a moving target. While laws and penalties have improved, enforcement can still be slow and new technologies like decentralised streaming pose fresh challenges. Governments and regulators could go further by enabling faster legal processes for takedowns and fostering crossborder cooperation. However, this must be very carefully addressed not to cross red lines when it comes to privacy and fundamental rights of the citizens,” he warns. COLLECTIVE.“ Stakeholder co-operation plays a crucial role in tackling piracy,” asserts Sharp.“ FACT is a good example of this. Funded by rights holders in the audiovisual industry, FACT facilitates intelligencesharing, content monitoring, and co-ordinated enforcement actions. The audiovisual sector has historically invested significantly in content protection, demonstrating the importance of a collective approach to tackling piracy. FACT works closely with our members to continuously monitor the anti-piracy landscape, identify offenders and collaborate on enforcement actions. This co-ordinated approach helps to ensure that rights holders have a structured and effective approach to safeguarding their content.”
“ The role of governments and regulators in the fight against piracy is critical and my view is that, as things stand, current laws and regulations in the UK are sufficient. Where I do think more could be done is social media platforms and Internet Service Providers taking greater responsibility to prevent the spread of illegal content, as these platforms can inadvertently facilitate piracy, providing access to unauthorised material. There is a clear responsibility for these companies to take stronger action against the significant amount of intellectual property crime occurring on their platforms,” he states.“ Strong industry