Indonesia moves to regulate AI-generated content; Google pushes back

Indonesia is pushing to revise its copyright law to impose regulations on AI-generated content, drawing pushback from Google, which says the move would stifle innovation.

Indonesia's National Assembly is preparing amendments to the copyright law that would incorporate AI-related regulations, according to Yonhap and Reuters on Saturday.

The draft amendments would prohibit AI from mimicking a creator's distinctive style of expression and require mandatory disclosure when AI is used in content production.

The bill also requires AI platform operators to pay compensation when they collect and republish news content or use it to train AI models. The compensation would be distributed to individual news outlets through a state-supervised copyright management body.

The National Assembly is also pursuing provisions that would extend copyright protection to some creators who use AI in their work. Protection would apply only when a human has contributed to the creative process above a certain threshold; works generated entirely by AI would be excluded.

However, the current draft does not specify what level of human involvement would be required to qualify for protection.

Copyrighted works used to train AI models would be subject to fair-use provisions or licensing agreements under the proposed amendments.

If passed, Indonesia would become the first country in Southeast Asia to incorporate AI-related provisions into its copyright law. The government is currently gathering public input on the bill.

Hermansyah Siregar, an official at Indonesia's Ministry of Justice overseeing intellectual property affairs, said the rise of generative AI "has shaken the copyright framework" and warned that, left unregulated, it "could suppress human creative activity."

Google pushed back, saying the proposed rules would harm innovation. In a recent statement, the company said "rigid and overly broad regulations harm creators and stifle innovation," adding that they would "ultimately discourage the investment needed to lead the digital future." Google added that it plans to consult with the Indonesian government on the proposed amendments.