SRINAGAR: The Union government has begun a formal review of whether India’s Copyright Act, 1957 is adequate to deal with the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence, acknowledging in Parliament that existing law may be ill equipped to address disputes over the use of copyrighted content in AI training and the ownership of AI generated works.
The disclosure came in a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada, responding to concerns raised by Congress member Shashi Tharoor on the legal vacuum surrounding generative AI and copyright. The government said an eight member expert committee was constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade on April 28, 2025 to study emerging legal and policy challenges posed by generative AI.
According to the ministry, the committee has already finalised Part One of a working paper examining the use of copyrighted content for training AI systems. This document has been placed in the public domain to seek feedback from stakeholders, signalling an initial move towards consultation. However, more contentious issues such as authorship, ownership and copyrightability of AI generated works remain unresolved and are still under examination as part of the proposed second phase of the study.
The government’s admission comes amid intensifying global debate on whether AI systems unlawfully exploit copyrighted material, including journalistic content, books, images and music, often without consent or compensation.
The ministry outlined the committee’s mandate, which includes identifying and analysing legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright, examining whether existing provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 are sufficient, and making recommendations for possible reforms. The panel has also been tasked with preparing and publishing a working paper based on its findings.
