Indian media files lawsuit against ChatGPT

India's largest media outlets have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI – the developer of the ChatGPT neural network – for alleged misuse of their content. The plaintiffs include The Indian Express, The Hindu, The India Today group, NDTV.

This is reported by the BBC.

OpenAI denied the accusations from the media and said that it uses “publicly available data” that is in line with “widely recognized legal precedents”.

The first lawsuit in the country against OpenAI in November 2024 was initiated by the news agency Asian News International (ANI). It concerns allegations of illegal use of copyrighted material, and the company is being asked to pay 20 million rupees ($230,000).

ANI's lawyer believes that the verdict in the lawsuit could further “determine how these AI models will work in the future” and “which copyrighted news content can be used to train generative AI models (such as ChatGPT)”.

The day before, on February 5, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman arrived in Delhi to discuss India's plans to create a low-cost AI ecosystem with the authorities. He said India “has to be one of the leaders of the AI ​​revolution”.

The media lawsuit is significant for ChatGPT given its expansion plans in the country. According to a survey, India already has ChatGPT's largest user base.

OpenAI has faced dozens of similar lawsuits around the world. The most high-profile case is the NYT claim filed in December 2023. The publication is seeking “billions of dollars” in damages.