Altman defends using copyrighted news in AI training

New Delhi: OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman on Thursday defended the use of copyrighted news articles and opinion pieces to train AI models such as ChatGPT, saying the practice aligns with the US principle of fair use, even as the Indian government signalled a push for compensation to publishers when their content powers AI platforms.

Altman said OpenAI wants to balance content use with collaboration with creators. “Our stance is that when we're displaying a quote from a news article or an opinion piece or something like that, we want to do that in a way where we can explore new business models with creators for training,” he said.

He added that OpenAI relies on the US fair-use principle, arguing that “models can learn like people can learn, but models also can't play tricks that people can't play.” Altman positioned the approach as a way for AI systems to learn from existing content while respecting intellectual property rights.

His remarks come amid legal action by publishers who allege their work was used without permission to train AI models. OpenAI has maintained that its practices are consistent with fair use, while also pursuing licensing and partnership arrangements with publishers in some markets.

In India, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government believes news publishers must receive fair compensation when their content is used by artificial intelligence platforms, pointing to a policy debate around revenue sharing and attribution in the AI era.

Responding to a query by BestMediaInfo.com at the India AI Summit 2026, Vaishnaw said, “We believe that there has to be a fair distribution of the revenue which comes out of the big efforts that the conventional media teams create.”

Vaishnaw said traditional media organisations invest significant resources in producing credible journalism and that this effort must be recognised as AI platforms monetise information and scale content discovery. While he did not outline a specific regulatory framework, his remarks indicate the government is examining how AI platforms source, attribute and monetise news content, and how publishers should be compensated.

The compensation demand has also begun surfacing more sharply in industry discussions. India Today Group Vice Chairperson Kalli Purie raised the issue on Monday in a nine-point charter at the “AI and Media: Opportunities, Responsible Pathways, and the Road Ahead” session.

“Publishers cannot be expected to invest in reporting if their work is freely absorbed into AI products without a fair return,” she said.