New Delhi, Dec. 9 -- India is preparing a policy outline on how architects of artificial intelligence (AI) can use copyrighted material, a development that promises to impact AI giants and startups that digest vast amounts of data to spit out everything from quirky images to medical analyses.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has recommended a mandatory licensing model for AI developers, granting large language model (LLM) developers compulsory access to all "lawfully accessed copyrighted content" for model training without seeking individual permission from the creators; in turn, the developers would be required to pay royalties through a single, government-designated collecting body managed by rights h...