디지털휴먼과 아바타의 법적 지위에 관한 고찰

Abstract

The emergence of digital humans and avatars is rapidly increasing along with the development of virtual reality(VR) and the metaverse. These digital beings go beyond simple entertainment and actively participate in economic and social activities, thereby raising new issues. Accordingly, it is necessary to clarify the legal status of digital humans and avatars and examine how they can be protected and regulated in the real and virtual worlds. Digital humans refer to virtual beings with human-like appearance and behavior by combining artificial intelligence(AI) and computer graphics technology, while avatars refer to digital figures that users use to express or represent themselves in the virtual world. These digital beings are being utilized in various fields such as games, social media, customer service, and education, but their legal status is unclear, which leads to issues regarding personal information protection, copyright, and ownership of digital assets. Digital humans and avatars can raise personal information protection issues in the process of collecting and processing user data. Important issues include how data collected in the virtual world is being used and whether sufficient legal devices are in place to protect it. The current Personal Information Protection Act is designed to focus on data protection in the physical world, and thus has limitations in protecting personal information in the virtual world. There is also the issue of ownership of content created by digital humans and avatars. For example, to answer questions such as who owns the copyright to items or content created by avatars in games, and what the legal procedures are when trading or inheriting such digital assets, a new legal system in the digital environment is required. In order to clarify the legal status of digital humans and avatars, the following policies are necessary. Legal standards that clearly define the ownership of data and content created by digital beings must be established, legal devices must be introduced to strengthen personal information protection in the virtual world, and responsibility for the impact of digital humans and avatars on the real world must be clearly stipulated. In the future, it is necessary to deeply explore various socio-ethical issues related to the legal status of digital humans and avatars.