Asian News International (ANI), one of India’s largest news agencies, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of unauthorized use of its copyrighted content to train its Large Language Models (LLMs).
The lawsuit, filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, seeks initial damages of 20 million rupees ($236,910). ANI, represented by lawyer Sidhant Kumar, claims that OpenAI stored and utilized its data to enhance the training of its models, violating intellectual property rights.
OpenAI’s lawyer, Amit Sibal, challenged the lawsuit, asserting that the Delhi High Court lacks jurisdiction over the matter as OpenAI neither operates servers nor conducts model training in India. He informed the court that ANI’s content has been blocked on OpenAI’s platform, which he argued undermines ANI’s claims.
Sibal also disclosed that OpenAI is facing similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions, including 13 cases in the United States and one in Germany. However, he clarified that no injunctions have been issued against the company globally.
The Delhi High Court admitted the case, acknowledging the complexity of the issues surrounding LLM training and intellectual property. The court emphasized the need for expert input and scheduled the next hearing for January 28, 2024.
Broader Implications
This lawsuit is the first of its kind against OpenAI in India and underscores the rising scrutiny of artificial intelligence technologies and their compliance with copyright laws. The case could set a precedent for how AI companies manage copyrighted content globally, particularly in jurisdictions with diverse legal frameworks.
The ANI lawsuit adds to OpenAI’s growing legal troubles worldwide. In a related development, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023. The suit, presented in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, accused the companies of unauthorized use of millions of its published articles to train AI models.
While the New York Times lawsuit did not specify a monetary demand, it called for statutory and actual damages amounting to billions of dollars. The publishing company also demanded the destruction of any AI models trained on its content, citing the uncompensated use of its intellectual property to create products that compete with its core audience.
These lawsuits highlight growing concerns about the ethical and legal implications of AI systems using copyrighted material. The outcomes of these cases could reshape the regulatory landscape for AI companies, pushing for more stringent compliance with intellectual property laws worldwide.