New Delhi, Jan. 8 -- The government's resolution to require artificial intelligence (AI) firms to pay royalties for the data used to train their models has met fierce resistance from the technology sector. The department for promotion of industry and internal trade's (DPIIT's) proposal plans to set up a framework to compensate creators whose work helps AI tick. Big Tech firms said the DPIIT's plan, announced on 8 December, for standard AI royalties won't work because it is difficult to separate commercial AI use from the very early stages, where it might have been a non-profit or research project. Industry body Nasscom, which represented technology companies within DPIIT's working panel on the AI copyright royalty proposal, published a 'dissent note' against the framework on December 17. The government, however, believes that while challenges raised by the industry will be taken into account, regulating the usage of copyrighted data in AI models is necessary. "Concerns of plagiarism have existed for a long time, and copyright is recognized as a form of intellectual property in order to encourage creativity. In the age of AI, if companies oppose the need for copyright, this could inhibit creators. So, we will have to find a balance," said S. Krishnan, secretary at the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity). Krishnan agreed that "there are two sides to this debate, and both will need to be considered before a final call." When asked if the Centre intends to host further consultations before arriving at a consensus, Krishnan said, "Of course, there will be many further discussions-the current version is a discussion paper to encourage debate, and not a rule."...