FICCI - SS Rana & Co. Report - Copyright in the AI age
The FICCI–S.S. Rana & Co. report, Copyright in the AI Age: Protecting Creativity and the Future of Publishing, examines the evolving intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), copyright, and the publishing ecosystem. As generative AI transforms the creation, discovery, distribution, and consumption of content, the report explores the legal, commercial, and ethical questions emerging for publishers, authors, researchers, technology developers, and policymakers.
The report examines key issues including the use of copyrighted works as AI training data, text and data mining, web scraping, copyrightability and ownership of AI-generated outputs, authorship and attribution, and the implications of AI for research integrity. It also analyses India's evolving legal and policy framework alongside comparative developments across major jurisdictions, emerging judicial trends, and industry practices.
Recognising the opportunities AI offers for productivity, accessibility, multilingual publishing, and innovation, the report also highlights the challenges associated with transparency, licensing, human authorship, editorial oversight, and protection of creative and intellectual assets. It examines contractual and liability considerations and explores potential approaches to AI training rights, licensing, revenue sharing, and dispute resolution.
The report concludes with policy recommendations aimed at supporting a balanced, practical, and future-ready framework that enables technological innovation while safeguarding creativity, copyright protection, and trust in the publishing ecosystem.
Key Takeaways
- AI is reshaping publishing, creating new opportunities as well as copyright and authorship challenges.
- Use of copyrighted content for AI training raises questions around consent, compensation, transparency, and licensing.
- AI-generated content presents evolving questions around originality, authorship, ownership, and attribution.
- AI is creating new risks for research integrity, including plagiarism, fabricated citations, and undisclosed AI use.
- India’s legal and policy framework is evolving to address emerging AI and copyright challenges.
- Publishing agreements may need to address AI use, training rights, licensing, liability, and revenue sharing.
- The report calls for balanced policies that support AI innovation while protecting creativity, copyright, and trust.