HT has learnt that the committee will hold a total of 10 meetings over the next three months. The agenda is to discuss and assess whether the Copyright Act, 1957 requires amendments, needs clarification, or remains sufficient as it is, in light of emerging challenges posed by AI.

To be sure, there is no assumption within the committee that the law will be amended. One committee member stated that no definitive view has been formed yet, at least during the committee’s early stages. Although the discussions of the committee remain confidential, a person aware of the discussions told HT that the meeting on Friday was largely introductory where the scope of the committee was laid out.

HT had earlier reported that one committee member was hesitant to participate, citing a lack of expertise in AI. However, all members were present at the meeting on Friday, a person aware of the matter said. Interestingly, three officials from the IT ministry were present, despite the DPIIT listing only one as part of the committee.

By the end of the meetings, expected to go on till August, it is expected that a working paper will be published wherein the members will make their recommendations. The committee members are scheduled to meet next on May 23.

The committee’s formation comes at a time when the Delhi high court hears the case of OpenAI vs ANI, in which the news agency has sued the ChatGPT-maker for copyright infringement, alleging that its news articles were used to train AI models without permission or compensation.