FICCI’s Rajiv Aggarwal calls for stronger IP safeguards as AI reshapes creative work

New Delhi: Rajiv Aggarwal, Chair, FICCI IPR Committee and Senior Vice President, Samsung India Electronics, on Monday said the policy response to artificial intelligence must balance innovation with stronger protections for creators and rights-holders, as AI is already changing how creative work is produced and distributed.

Aggarwal was speaking at FICCI’s summit, organised jointly with the Motion Picture Association (MPA), titled ‘Rewarding our Creative Future in the Age of AI – Strengthening India through Innovation, Trust and Talent’, an official satellite event of the AI Impact Summit 2026.

“AI is no longer a vague futuristic concept, but a compelling and tangible force, reshaping economies, industries, and societies,” Aggarwal said. “Today, as artificial intelligence begins to write poetry, compose music, and paint canvases beside us, we are not witnessing the end of human imagination. We are witnessing its next magnificent chapter.”

He said the discussion is “not to choose between man and machine, but to ask deeper, more Indian questions,” as AI becomes a day-to-day force across creative and cultural industries.

Aggarwal said India’s creative economy spans film, television, streaming, music, gaming, publishing and AVGC, and described it as both a soft power asset and a jobs engine. 

Citing a Deloitte study conducted with the Motion Picture Association, he said, “India's film, television, and online content sector has generated over $61 billion in terms of impact, supporting over 2.6 million jobs in the country.”

He placed intellectual property at the centre of the AI transition. “IP is the infrastructure that allows creativity to scale, travel, and endure,” Aggarwal said. 

He added that AI’s “transformative potential must be matched by a responsible deployment” anchored in “strong IP protections and effective anti-piracy safeguards.”

“After all, innovation and IP protection are not opposing forces. They are mutually reinforcing,” he said, while calling for a “responsive and predictable regulatory regime” to build investor confidence and support long-term growth.

Aggarwal linked the conversation to the broader AI Impact Summit underway in Delhi, and said the creative sector’s response must be shaped early. “The AI Summit that gets underway today in Delhi is the fitting moment to ensure that the impact of AI on creativity is not accidental but intentional. Not extractive but empowering. Not short-term but sustainable,” he said.