India Govt Reportedly Wants Google, OpenAI to Pay Content Creators for AI Training Use

India is weighing new copyright rules that would make AI companies share revenue with content creators. A government panel has suggested mandatory payments when Indian material helps train models run by firms like OpenAI and Google.

The proposal challenges the common industry view that using online content for training counts as "fair use". It would also require payments even when the material is publicly accessible, affecting global AI platforms that rely on large scraped datasets.

AI companies and proposed Indian royalty framework

The panel, formed in April, recommends that AI companies can still use Indian works for training. However, the report says they should pay royalties into a central organisation representing copyright holders, which would later distribute the money to eligible creators.

The group argues that this collective royalty model is fairer than current opt-out systems used elsewhere. The report says creators should not need to hunt through vast AI training datasets to remove their work and instead should receive compensation when it is used.

AI companies, global copyright rules and industry pushback

Regulators in several countries are drafting new rules as copyright clashes with AI companies spread. India’s idea departs from the United States, where major developers argue that training on public data is protected as "fair use", while Japan offers broad exemptions for such use.

The European Union has gone in another direction, allowing rights holders to opt out of AI training. The Indian panel criticises that EU model as ineffective and says many creators may lack tools or awareness to exercise those rights in practice.

OpenAI, Google Gemini and other AI companies with large Indian user bases did not comment on the proposals. OpenAI is already facing a lawsuit from Indian news agency ANI, which alleges misuse of copyrighted reports, claims the company rejects while maintaining its practices are lawful fair use.

Not all technology voices support the royalty plan. Nasscom, which includes Google and Microsoft among its members, submitted a formal dissent calling the mandatory payments a "tax or levy on innovation", signalling a likely clash between policymakers, creators and AI companies as India finalises its approach.

Via