AI Has Fueled Rise in Intellectual Property Risks
A new industry report highlights that 90% of IP experts see AI-enabled systems accelerating global infringement rates.
Updated on Sept. 22, 2026 in Cybersecurity
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Ninety percent of senior intellectual property executives report that AI systems are increasing the frequency of infringements, according to a survey of 300 experts conducted by CSC. This research warns that digital assets are being targeted more aggressively through automated copying of logos and voices.
Why it matters
The rise of AI-powered attacks forces firms to navigate a cost-heavy environment of defensive domain registrations while facing significant regulatory exposure. Companies now view monitoring online channels at scale as a critical challenge, with over half of experts expecting these risks to grow further over the next three years.
Sixty-six percent of respondents cited regulatory penalties as a primary outcome of infringement, while 60% identified the costs associated with defensive domain registrations as their leading operational concern.
The players
CSC
A global provider of business, legal, and digital brand security services that manages domain portfolios and corporate compliance.
The details
Attackers leverage AI tools to synthesize high-fidelity digital copies of proprietary assets, including corporate logos and human voices. These criminals generate malicious advertising templates, which are then deployed across social networks to reach mass audiences through channels that consumers inherently trust. This strategy exploits the difficulty of monitoring brand usage across fragmented online ecosystems at scale.
Timeline
January 2022 to April 2026: 65,590 third-party domains featuring FIFA were registered.
Q2 2026: CSC surveyed 300 senior executives for the report.
September 22, 2026: The State of Online IP Risk 2026 report was released.
Next three years: A significant increase in IP infringements is anticipated by 52% of respondents.
The Tech Race
This data marks a departure from traditional manual infringement tracking by highlighting the shift toward automated, AI-driven asset theft. It follows a pattern set by recent cybersecurity benchmarks that identify the weaponization of generative models as the primary accelerant for global digital fraud.
Consumers should exercise increased vigilance toward branded content, as criminals now deploy AI-generated replicas of logos and voices to mimic trusted entities. Firms are likely to accelerate their defensive domain registration strategies in response, potentially altering how smaller organizations protect their digital footprint.
The takeaway
The rapid adoption of generative AI has fundamentally lowered the barrier to entry for digital impersonation at scale. Stakeholders should monitor the intersection of AI governance policies and brand protection strategies to determine how regulatory frameworks will evolve to curb these automated threats.
Further reading
For broader trends in digital security and asset protection, see Cybersecurity.
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