ChatGPT threatens the survival of digital news itself: DNPA to Delhi High Court

New Delhi: The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that the widespread use of OpenAI’s ChatGPT could threaten the survival of digital news itself. The submission was made during the hearing of a copyright infringement suit filed by Asian News International (ANI) against OpenAI.

According to Bar and Bench, Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, representing DNPA, warned that as ChatGPT becomes more dominant, media organisations could lose both incentive and viability to publish news online.

“Physical newspapers are disappearing, digital news will disappear and only ChatGPT will remain. It reduces my ability or incentive to publish,” he told the court.

DNPA, which represents major media houses including the Times Group, The Hindu, The Indian Express and NDTV, has intervened in the case, arguing that OpenAI’s use of news content to train its large language model violates copyright. Rao said that even temporary storage of copyrighted news material without authorisation amounts to infringement.

The court, presided over by Justice Amit Bansal, is currently hearing ANI’s complaint that OpenAI has been using its original content without permission to train ChatGPT and respond to user queries. The news agency has alleged that its work is being commercially exploited.

The case is part of a growing global debate around the rights of publishers in the AI era. The next hearings are scheduled for August 18,  September 12, and  September 23.