PVLF 2025

India Probes AI Copyright Laws as OpenAI Faces Lawsuits

India forms a committee to review AI copyright laws amid lawsuits against OpenAI for allegedly using news content without permission to train ChatGPT.
on May 08, 2025

India has established a committee to examine whether current copyright legislation is adequate to address AI-related issues, a government memo revealed, as OpenAI is hit with legal suits amid allegations of copyright infringement.

A high court case in New Delhi by a group of leading Indian news organizations and book publishers who claim the company exploits their content without permission to assist in training its ChatGPT chatbot has the potential to redefine the way the industry functions in India.

OpenAI has denied any wrongdoing.

India has established a committee to examine whether current copyright law is enough to address AI-related conflicts, a formal memo revealed, while OpenAI is being sued due to allegations of profiting from copyrighted content.

A case in the high court in New Delhi by a group of leading Indian news outlets and publishers who claim the company uses their material without authorization to assist in training its ChatGPT chatbot may transform the way the industry works in India.

OpenAI has refused to do anything wrong.

The non-public memo stated the commerce ministry established a panel of eight experts last month to review issues pertaining to AI and their implications for India's copyright law.

The experts have been asked to "identify and analyze the legal and policy issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence in the context of copyright," the memo further stated.

The panel of intellectual property attorneys, government officials and industry executives will also analyze the sufficiency of the Copyright Act of 1957 in addressing such issues and provide recommendations to the government, it stated.

India's commerce and infotech ministries were not available for comment to Reuters' questions.

The copyright legislation has been central to the OpenAI lawsuits in India.

Billionaire Gautam Adani's NDTV, the Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers and the Digital News Publishers Association, which unites leading news outlets, claim to have commonalities in worries regarding copyright law infringement by AI platforms using their content to train such apps.

OpenAI maintains it employs public information to train its chatbot, which is not a breach of India's copyright act, and also offers an opt-out to websites that don't wish to have their information used.

Courts across the globe are hearing complaints by writers, news agencies and musicians that charge technology companies with using their copyrighted material to train AI services without permission or compensation.