OpenAI to face Indian news firms of Ambani, Adani in copyright battle, documents show

Digital news entities owned by Indian billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, along with other publications such as the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, are participating in legal actions against OpenAI for the unauthorized use of copyrighted material, according to legal documents.

Courts around the world are addressing lawsuits from authors, media companies, and musicians who claim that tech firms have utilized their copyrighted content to train AI services without authorization or compensation. India boasts over 690 million smartphone users due to affordable mobile data plans, and OpenAI has identified the nation as a vital market. Indian media organizations, such as Adani’s NDTV (NDTV.NS) and Ambani’s Network18 (NEFI.NS), have informed a New Delhi court that they wish to participate in an existing lawsuit against the ChatGPT developer, voicing concerns that their news sites are being scraped to collect and replicate their content for users of the influential AI tool.

In the most notable legal clash, the local news organization ANI was the first to initiate a lawsuit against OpenAI last year. Worldwide and Indian book publishers have also participated in the lawsuit.  The case document, spanning 135 pages and not publicly available but examined by news organizations, contends that OpenAI’s actions represent “a clear and present danger to the important copyrights” of members of the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) and other media. It mentions OpenAI’s “intentional scraping… and modification of content,” highlighting that “the excessive influence of tech firms in favoring content and garnering advertising revenue has alarmed publishers.”

The submission was done by the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Adani’s NDTV, and the DNPA, which represents about 20 companies including Mukesh Ambani’s Network18, as well as entities like the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, Zee News, India Today Group, and the Hindu. Numerous outlets also have a thriving business in newspapers and television news. The Times of India is not part of the legal challenge despite being member of the DNPA, the filing said, without elaborating on the reasons.

Asked for comment, OpenAI reiterated an earlier statement that it was engaged in constructive partnerships with many news organisations, including in India, and was using publicly available data in a manner protected by fair use principles to builds its AI models. The global AI market is expected to grow to $320 billion to $380 billion by 2027, expanding 25% to 35% each year, with the India market likely to follow that trend, according to Boston Consulting Group and India’s tech lobby group NASSCOM.