By Uzma Sahar 
Hollywood and Bollywood studios are urging India to strengthen its copyright regulations to prevent artificial intelligence (AI) companies from using their creative works to train machine learning models without authorization. The demand underscores growing global tensions between content creators and AI developers as governments rush to establish clear legal frameworks for emerging technologies.
According to correspondence reviewed by Reuters, industry groups representing major U.S. and Indian studios have lobbied a government-appointed panel in India to limit AI’s access to copyrighted materials, arguing that unregulated data scraping threatens creative ownership and financial sustainability.
The Motion Picture Association (MPA)—which represents global entertainment giants such as Warner Bros, Netflix, and Paramount—along with India’s Producers Guild, has called on policymakers to reject broad exemptions that would allow AI companies to freely use creative content for model training. Instead, they are advocating for a licensing-based system to ensure creators are compensated and intellectual property remains protected.
In a letter to the panel, MPA India Managing Director Uday Singh warned that granting unrestricted access could “undermine the incentive to create new works and erode copyright protection in India.” Similarly, Producers Guild CEO Nitin Tej Ahuja emphasized that “licensing copyrighted works is essential for creators’ revenue and business sustainability.”
The issue arises as India’s current copyright law does not specifically address AI-related use cases. In response, the Ministry of Commerce has formed a committee of legal experts, government officials, and industry representatives to evaluate whether the existing legislation adequately protects rights holders. The panel, chaired by Himani Pande, is expected to submit its recommendations to senior government officials soon.
India’s film and entertainment sector—one of the largest in the world—generated $13.1 billion in 2023, according to a Deloitte-MPA report, growing at an annual rate of 18% since 2019. The rapid rise of AI-driven technologies, however, poses new challenges for this booming market.
Adding urgency to the debate, a Bollywood couple recently filed a lawsuit against YouTube after AI-generated videos manipulated their likenesses, raising public concern over digital rights and privacy.
While film studios push for stricter oversight, AI firms such as OpenAI, represented by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), are lobbying for exceptions that would permit “lawful” AI use. The BSA argues that restrictive copyright laws could stifle innovation and prevent India from becoming a competitive player in the global AI ecosystem.
The MPA has strongly opposed an “opt-out” model, where studios would have to actively block unauthorized AI usage of their works. The association insists such measures would burden creators and discourage investment in local content.
The debate mirrors legal battles abroad, including Warner Bros’ lawsuit against AI startup Midjourney in Los Angeles, alleging the company illegally used copyrighted imagery of Batman, Superman, and Bugs Bunny to train its AI models. Midjourney maintains its use falls under “fair use” principles—a claim that continues to divide the creative and tech industries worldwide.