News creators must get fair remuneration for content they are creating: IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday (February 17) said the government believes that news publishers must get fair remuneration when their content is used by artificial intelligence (AI) companies to train their models, and that he public policy should also be oriented towards revenue sharing.

“Copyrights is also part of it. This is very complex. As most of the AI models are trained on media which is available in public domain. We believe that content creators, specially news creators, they must get a fair remuneration for the content they are creating,” said Vaishnaw while responding to reporters' questions at the India AI Summit 2026.




“That is something that we sincerely believe as a government, and I think the public policy should also be oriented towards that. We are talking to the big platforms they have, more-or-less, shown inclination towards the process by which fair remuneration to content creators, especially the news creators who are the part of the conventional media where the content is used by digital platforms,” the minister added.

The minister's remarks come at a critical time. Major publishers in the US and Europe have sued AI companies for using copyrighted articles without permission. Meanwhile, some companies like OpenAI have struck deals with specific media houses to legally use their archives. Moreover, countries like Australia and Canada have already passed laws forcing platforms to negotiate with news publishers.

“We believe that there has to be a fair distribution of revenues which comes out of the big efforts that the conventional media teams create. We believe in that and we are constantly in a dialogue with the big platforms on that,” the minister emphasised.

DNPA says news content ‘not free’

On Day 1 of the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026, Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) convened a panel discussion on “AI and Media: Opportunities, Responsible Pathways, and the Road Ahead”, wherein they said that journalistic content is not “free-floating internet input” for AI models to consume and it requires protection and payment.

“Journalism is not a free-floating internet input but intellectual property created through investment, editorial oversight and accountability. When AI begins to commoditise information, trust becomes scarce—and that scarcity creates value,” said Mohit Jain, COO and executive director, Bennett Coleman & Company Limited.

A major concern raised during the discussion was how AI summaries are hurting the news business. By providing a quick AI-generated answer – like AI overviews in Google Search and those provided by AI chatbots – these tools stop users from clicking through to the original news website, which in turn decreases the traffic on news publishers’ website.

“AI-driven summaries in search environments are already diverting traffic away from publisher websites in several markets, weakening revenue models that sustain credible reporting. If journalism funds the accuracy of AI systems, there must be fair recognition and remuneration for that value,” said Robert Whitehead of the International News Media Association (INMA).