Indian News Outlets Of Ambani, Adani To Challenge OpenAI In Copyright Dispute

Indian News Outlets of Ambani, Adani to Challenge OpenAI in Copyright Dispute

Indian media companies, including those owned by billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, have taken legal action against OpenAI, claiming the company improperly used their copyrighted content. The legal challenge, filed in a New Delhi court, involves outlets such as NDTV, Network18, The Indian Express, and Hindustan Times. The media companies argue that OpenAI's ChatGPT has been scraping and reproducing content from their websites without consent, violating copyright laws.

The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), which represents around 20 companies, including prominent media outlets, has joined the lawsuit. The 135-page filing claims that OpenAI's actions pose a significant threat to the copyrights of news organizations and accuses the company of willfully scraping and adapting content from Indian news sites.

This legal battle is part of a global trend, with authors, musicians, and news outlets around the world filing similar claims against technology companies for using their work to train AI systems. The DNPA's legal action follows a high-profile lawsuit filed by Indian news agency ANI against OpenAI last year. Other global publishers have also expressed concerns about the use of their content for training AI tools like ChatGPT. In its defense, OpenAI has denied the allegations, asserting that its systems only make fair use of publicly available data. It also stated that any legal action to remove training data would breach its U.S. legal obligations, given that the company’s servers are located outside India.

The Indian media outlets argue that OpenAI's lack of partnerships with local media companies—despite its collaborations with international outlets—has put them at a disadvantage. They claim that OpenAI is profiting from their creative work without compensation, which they believe undermines the media industry and the democratic process.

This new legal development adds momentum to ANI's ongoing case against OpenAI, with a hearing scheduled in the near future. The dispute underscores the growing tension between technology firms and traditional media outlets over the use of content to fuel AI innovation.