OpenAI sued by Network18, NDTV for copyright infringement
What's the story
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is being sued by a group of Indian digital news outlets. These include billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Network18 and Gautam Adani-owned NDTV.
Other media houses like the Indian Express and Hindustan Times have also joined the lawsuit.
This case marks a major escalation in the ongoing legal battle against OpenAI in India.
Legal concerns
Allegations of copyright infringement
The media houses have raised concerns before a New Delhi court over their news websites being scraped by OpenAI's tool.
This, they allege, is being done to store and reproduce their copyrighted work for users of the AI tool.
The 135-page case filing contends that OpenAI's conduct presents "a clear and present danger to the valuable copyrights" of Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) members and other outlets.
AI training
OpenAI's response and global copyright claims
OpenAI has not responded to these new allegations but has denied similar claims in the past. The company maintains that its AI systems make fair use of publicly available data.
This case is part of a larger global trend where authors, news outlets, and musicians are accusing tech firms of using their copyrighted work to train AI services.
They are seeking the deletion of content used in chatbot training.
Legal proceedings
Indian media outlets join lawsuit
The legal challenge in India was filed by the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, NDTV , and the DNPA. The latter represents around 20 companies including Network18 and Dainik Bhaskar.
However, The Times of India has opted out of this lawsuit despite being a DNPA member.
This fresh intervention by Indian outlets is likely to bolster ANI's lawsuit against OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft.
Stance
OpenAI's stance on data deletion and jurisdiction
In response to the ANI case, OpenAI has claimed that any order to delete training data would violate its US legal obligations.
The company also argues that Indian judges do not have jurisdiction over a copyright case against it as its servers are based overseas.
Notably, Indian and international book publishers have also joined the copyright lawsuit against OpenAI in New Delhi.
Business impact
Indian publishers' concerns and OpenAI's partnerships
The Indian publishers argue that while OpenAI has entered partnerships with foreign media outlets, it has failed to do so in India.
This conduct is viewed as "an inexplicable defiance of the law."
The publishers also allege that OpenAI is on its way to becoming a profit-driven business that is capitalizing on the creative works of the media industry, resulting in a "weakened press."