India’s government is advocating for AI companies to compensate for content used in model training, but only after they generate revenue. This suggestion came from a recently released paper by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The report highlights issues around unpaid use of copyrighted materials and ongoing fair use debates. Offering a solution, the paper suggests a ‘blanket license’ model coupled with royalties post-commercialization, and proposes a centralized system for royalty collection and distribution. Additionally, the paper recommends forming a ‘Works Database for AI training royalties’ for content creators to claim compensation. Historical parallels such as performance rights organizations illustrate potential frameworks for this proposal. India’s multi-lingual and diverse media landscape presents unique challenges in standardizing such a system, which, if implemented, could facilitate fair compensation for content creators while promoting AI development.