OpenAI Denies Using Indian Media Content in ChatGPT Training

HIGHLIGHTS:

• OpenAI denies using content from Indian media houses for training ChatGPT, claiming fair use of publicly available data.
• Indian media groups, including NDTV and The Indian Express, accuse OpenAI of copyright infringement.
• OpenAI argues its global licensing agreements don't cover AI training, and Indian copyright law permits public content usage.
• The legal battle is part of a broader global dispute over AI training and copyright violations.
• The copyright infringement lawsuits against OpenAI are part of a larger international debate over AI training and intellectual property rights.

OpenAI is attempting to block Indian media houses from joining the copyright infringement lawsuit. Most of these media houses are owned by either Gautam Adani or Mukesh Ambani. The AI company backed by Microsoft claims not to have used the content of these media houses to train its models, including ChatGPT, according to sources.

In February 11, the 31-page-long court-document was filed in response to the lawsuit, formerly filed by Indian news agency ANI last year, in which ANI alleged that OpenAI used its published content without permission to train its artificial intelligence models. Since then, various Indian media houses and book publishers have joined the fray, raising concerns over content scraping and copyright violations.

Allegations have been made by some of the largest media houses in India like NDTV of Adani, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA)-which represents several news outlets including Ambani's Network18- that OpenAI is scraping their content for reproduction in ChatGPT.

Nevertheless, OpenAI has resolutely denied these allegations in court, stating that it has not used any content from these media organizations to train its AI models. The company further maintains that it is under no obligation to enter into partnership agreements with Indian media organizations merely to utilize publicly accessible online content.

OpenAI insists that research using their publicly available data is sufficiently unchallengeable under fair use principles and long-established court rulings. The company has established content licensing agreements with publishers elsewhere, which, according to Indian media groups, have not been formed with publishers in India. However, OpenAI contends that its global licensing arrangements are not specifically for AI training and claim that Indian copyright law allows for public content to be used.

These lawsuits are presently being considered by courts all over the world from authors, news publishing houses, and musicians who have argued that such technology companies are training artificial intelligence models with their copyrighted content, without permission or compensation.

The legal dispute comes shortly after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited India as part of his Asian tour, where he met with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi. The discussions are said to have centered around India’s plans to create an affordable AI ecosystem, highlighting the country's aspirations in the global AI race.