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Asian News International (ANI) has initiated legal action against OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence giant of unauthorised use of its copyrighted news content. The lawsuit, the first of its kind in India, highlights the growing friction between the AI companies and news publishers over intellectual property rights.
The case is set to be heard by Justice Amit Bansal in the Delhi High Court, reports Hindustan Times.
ANI’s lawsuit, filed by Delhi-based Unum Law, alleges that OpenAI has exploited its original news content for commercial gains in two ways. Firstly, ANI claims its content was used to train OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) without permission.
Secondly, ANI alleges that OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, reproduces ANI’s news reports verbatim in user interactions.
The news agency has also raised concerns about what it terms ‘hallucinations’ by ChatGPT — instances where the AI inaccurately attributes fabricated news or statements to ANI.
According to ANI, such errors threaten its credibility and could contribute to spreading misinformation, potentially inciting public unrest.
In response to the lawsuit, an OpenAI spokesperson stated, “We take great care in our products and design process to support news organisations. We are actively engaged in constructive partnerships and conversations with many news organisations around the world, including India.”
The spokesperson emphasised that OpenAI develops its AI using publicly available data, adhering to fair use principles upheld by long-standing legal precedents.
OpenAI addressed concerns about the verbatim reproduction of content in a January 2024 blog post titled ‘OpenAI and journalism.’ The post described such “regurgitation” as a rare issue and noted that the company is actively working to minimise its occurrence.
The ANI lawsuit comes amidst a global backlash against the AI companies. The New York Times, for example, has filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Perplexity AI firms. In May 2024, eight newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital also filed a copyright violation suit against OpenAI and Microsoft.
To counter the lawsuits, OpenAI has entered into data-sharing agreements with various news organisations, including Conde Nast, Hearst, The Atlantic, Vox Media, News Corp, and Financial Times.
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