Indian news agency sues OpenAI for unsanctioned content use in AI training

Indian news agency ANI has sued OpenAI in a New Delhi court, accusing the ChatGPT creator of using its published content without permission to help train the artificial intelligence chatbot to provide information to users.

ANI is the latest news organisation globally to take OpenAI to court following lawsuits in the US by newspapers including the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.

The first hearing in the case took place in a New Delhi High Court on Tuesday, where the judge issued a notice to OpenAI to provide a detailed response to ANI’s accusations.

ANI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

ANI also accused OpenAI’s services of attributing fabricated news stories to the publication, according to its court submission dated Monday, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters.

Asked about the ANI lawsuit, a spokesperson for OpenAI said in a statement: “We build our AI models using publicly available data, in a manner protected by fair use and related principles, and supported by long-standing and widely accepted legal precedents”.

OpenAI and other tech companies have faced a wave of lawsuits by authors, visual artists, music publishers and other copyright owners for allegedly exploiting their work without permission. OpenAI has denied copyright infringement.

ANI in its filing said that OpenAI has “refused to obtain a lawful license or permission” for the use of original works by ANI. The AI firm has entered into licensing arrangements with news organisations such as the Financial Times and Associated Press for similar use of copyrighted content, it said.

Reuters has a minority stake in ANI and has been asked to comment on the story.

In its statement, OpenAI said that it was engaged in partnerships with many news organisations around the world and is holding talks to explore more such opportunities, including in India.

The court is set to next hear the case on January 28.