TITLE:
AI-Empowered Property Rights for Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Assets: Legal Regulation and Economic Transformation in Zhaoqing City, China
AUTHORS:
Junyan Chen
KEYWORDS:
ICH Digital Assets, Property Rights Construction, AI Empowerment, Economic Transformation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.13 No.12,
December
9,
2025
ABSTRACT: The construction of property rights for intangible cultural heritage (ICH) digital assets is a core issue in the systematic protection and innovative development of ICH within the process of Chinese-style modernization. Zhaoqing City, as a key origin of Lingnan culture, boasts rich ICH resources such as Duan inkstone crafting techniques, Guangdong embroidery, and the Fengkai Five Horses Patrolling the City Dance. However, during the AI-empowered digital transformation process, it faces challenges including ambiguous ownership definitions, a lack of legal norms, and inefficient economic conversion. Based on the institutional logic of “state presence” and systems theory, this article draws on Zhaoqing’s practices to explore the compatibility between AI technology and property rights construction. It analyzes the tensions between the public attributes and private interests of ICH digital assets and proposes a tripartite construction path of “state-led - social participation - technological support.” By clarifying the allocation of property rights subjects, establishing an AI-assisted dual-track valuation system, improving the legal regulatory framework, and innovating economic conversion models, this approach achieves synergy between the protection and utilization of ICH digital assets. It provides institutional support for Zhaoqing’s ICH to empower regional economic development and offers references for similar regions undergoing ICH digital transformation.