Indian government considering new AI law to protect rights of news publishers, content creators

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology said that the government is planning to draft a new law on artificial intelligence (AI). It is reported that the proposed law will safeguard the interests of news publishers and content creators, while also reducing user harm.

The law could either be a standalone legislation or part of the forthcoming Digital India Bill, which will replace the Information Technology Act of 2000. The minister stressed upon the need to respect creativity in terms of intellectual property and financial implications.

He advised that a legislative approach to regulation would be more effective than a self-regulatory body. This follows global demands for the protection of the rights of content creators, with numerous lawsuits filed against tech giants for using copyrighted content without compensation.

The news publishers in India are seeking for changes in IT rules to ensure fair compensation for the content used by AI models. The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) which includes 17 top media publishers in the country has asked for protection from potential copyright violations by AI models.

According to the current government advisory, AI models that are under-tested unreliable AI should be opened to general public only after they are labeled according to their risks. The advisory released in mid-March claims the label should make the “possible inherent fallibility or unreliability of the output generated” clear to the user.