On Tuesday, OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, attempted to prevent India’s largest media organizations, including those owned by billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, from joining a copyright lawsuit. This case could significantly influence the legal framework for AI in India.
Courts around the world are currently addressing similar cases where authors, news organizations, and musicians accuse tech companies of using their copyrighted work to train AI services without permission or licenses. India is OpenAI’s second-largest market by user count, following the United States.
The lawsuit began last year when local news agency ANI took legal action. Recently, book publishers and nearly a dozen digital media outlets, including those owned by Adani and Ambani, have sought to join the case against the AI company.
Earlier on Tuesday, Reuters reported that OpenAI filed to dismiss the book publishers’ case. The company argued that its ChatGPT service only shares public information. During the court proceedings, OpenAI lawyer Amit Sibal stated that he would oppose the media organizations’ attempts to join the case.
“I have an objection, I wish to file a reply,” Sibal told the court. He referred to a written response he would submit later with his reasoning.
The case is scheduled for another hearing in February.
OpenAI maintains that it only uses publicly available data in ways protected by fair use principles. When asked for comment on Tuesday, the company directed Reuters to its earlier statements and the court filing challenging the book publishers.
OpenAI has also claimed in its initial response to the ANI case that Indian judges lack jurisdiction to hear the case because its servers are located abroad.
SUMMARIES AND EXCERPTS FROM BOOKS
During Tuesday’s hearing, Sibal engaged in a debate with opposing lawyers regarding media coverage of the lawsuit.
OpenAI objected to articles based on interviews and non-public court applications from book publishers and Indian news groups. The company argued that “reliefs are being pursued in two courts, this court and the public court.”
Ameet Datta, the lawyer for the digital news group, responded that such allegations were “really unfortunate.”
The Federation of Indian Publishers, representing many Indian companies including Bloomsbury and Penguin Random House, has claimed that ChatGPT creates book summaries and extracts from unlicensed online copies, which harms their business. OpenAI denies these allegations.
Additionally, digital news units from India’s largest media groups, including the Indian Express and Hindustan Times, have sought to join the lawsuit. They argue that ChatGPT scrapes content from their news websites to store and reproduce their work for users.
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