India proposes charging OpenAI, Google for training AI on copyrighted content

Summary

India has proposed a mandatory royalty system for AI companies that train their models on copyrighted content — a move that could reshape how OpenAI and Google operate in what has already become one of their most important and fastest-growing markets globally. On Tuesday, India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade released a proposed framework that would give AI companies access to all copyrighted works for training in exchange for paying royalties to a new collecting body composed of rights-holding organizations, with payments then distributed to creators. The proposal argues that this “mandatory blanket license” would lower compliance costs for AI firms while ensuring that writers, musicians, artists, and other rights holders are compensated when their work is scraped to train commercial models. India’s proposal comes amid mounting concerns in global markets over how AI companies train their models on copyrighted material, a practice that has triggered lawsuits from authors, news organizations, artists, and other rights holders in the U.S. and Europe. Courts and regulators are still weighing whether such training qualifies as fair use, leaving AI firms operating under legal uncertainty and allowing them to rapidly expand their business without clear regulations. Unlike the U.S. and the European Union, where policymakers are debating transparency obligations and fair-use boundaries, India is proposing one of the most interventionist approaches yet by giving AI companies automatic access to copyrighted material in exchange for mandatory payment. The eight-member committee, formed by the Indian government in late April, argues the system would avoid years of legal uncertainty while ensuring creators are compensated from the outset. Defending the system, the committee says in a 125-page submission (PDF) that a blanket license “aims to provide an easy access to content for AI developers… reduce transaction costs… [and] ensure fair compensation for ...