India’s music labels are suing OpenAI for ‘unauthorized use of sound recordings’ in training AI models. In doing this, OpenAI has breached copyright. Music companies have joined ANI which has accused OpenAI of using its news content to train ChatGPT without permission. The Federation of Indian Publishers has filed a similar suit against OpenAI at Delhi HC. OpenAI also faces a case from media outlets for improper use of copyright material.
Section 14 of the Copyright Act, 1957 provides owners of exclusive rights, including rights to reproduce the work and communicate it to the public. The courts will have to decide if rights enumerated in Sec 14 are violated by using copyrighted material to train AI models. There are exceptions to infringement provided under the Act. Whether they could apply in this case is to be decided. One such exception is that of fair use that permits limited use of copyrighted material for private/personal use, criticism or review and reporting of events.
OpenAI claims that Indian courts lack jurisdiction since the company is US-based. It also claims that it follows fair use principles in deploying publicly available data to create its AI models.
It is now for the courts to decide how to regulate AI without stifling innovation. The case could set legal precedents — whether AI-generated content qualifies as copyright infringement and whether developers must seek prior permission to use copyright material.
The UK government last year proposed to let AI developers use copyrighted content without permission and strike licensing agreements between AI firms and content creators.
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