The Algorithmic Auteur: AI, Cultural Production, and the Reconfiguration of Audiovisual Media

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is enacting a profound transformation across the audiovisual media landscape, reconfiguring practices, economies, and cultural forms. This paper addresses the research question: How is AI reconfiguring the entire ecosystem of audiovisual media, from the granularities of production to the macro-structures of cultural meaning, economic models, and regulatory control? Employing a systematic literature review, we analyze the integration of AI across the media value chain and its broader socio-cultural implications. We find that while AI offers unprecedented efficiencies, it also introduces significant challenges related to creative homogenization, labor displacement, algorithmic bias, and intellectual property. To provide a comprehensive analytical lens, we propose the theoretical framework of the Algorithmic Auteur. This concept extends traditional auteur theory to conceptualize AI not as a mere tool, but as a complex, networked agent whose outputs are shaped by the interplay of its technical architecture, training data, economic imperatives, and human collaborators. Our analysis reveals three critical dynamics: a nexus between efficiency and creative homogenization, where AI's predictive logic favors derivative content; the emergence of labor agreements as a primary form of grassroots algorithmic governance; and a fundamental divergence in global regulatory philosophies, pitting a rights-based European model against a market-driven American one. We conclude by offering recommendations for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and educators to foster a human-centric approach to AI integration, ensuring that technological innovation serves to augment, rather than subvert, human creativity and cultural diversity.