United States-based artificial intelligence company OpenAI told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that it cannot be accused of copyright infringement in India because it neither stores data nor trains its language models in the country, Bar and Bench reported.

“Any action that is claimed to be infringement must take place in the four corners of this country,” OpenAI’s lawyer said. “If it doesn't take place in the four corners of this country, that particular action can’t be infringement.”

The court was hearing a suit filed by news agency Asian News International, which accused the firm of using its content without permission to train and operate its large language models.

OpenAI operates the popular advanced artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, training it on vast amounts of data from the internet.

OpenAI’s legal counsel argued that India’s Copyright Act, 1957 cannot be applied to actions outside of India.

“Wherever it is done, it is not unlawful,” he was quoted as saying by Medianama. “It is governed by laws where it takes place, and it is not unlawful there.”

Lawyer Amit Sibal, appearing for the artificial intelligence company, reiterated that OpenAI’s use of copyrighted content was “non-expressive”, because of which even if the Copyright Act was applied outside India, its actions would not be considered illegal.

In intellectual property, non-expressive use refers to copying data as an intermediate step in a process that does not convey the original work’s expressive elements to a human user.

In its lawsuit against OpenAI, ANI claimed that ChatGPT uses its material to train its language model, storing and reproducing copyrighted content for commercial purposes without permission. OpenAI countered, stating it has no servers or offices in India and denied reproducing ANI’s material in the country.

OpenAI also said it had blocked ANI’s website for the purpose of training ChatGPT since October, pursuant to the news agency’s lawsuit.

ANI also alleged that ChatGPT generates responses using ANI’s content verbatim and falsely attributes statements, including fabricated ones, to the agency. These inaccuracies, known as “hallucinations” in the field of artificial intelligence, threaten ANI’s reputation and risk spreading fake news, the agency contended.

The news agency has sought damages of Rs 2 crore, as well as directions to stop OpenAI from storing or using its work.

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ANI v ChatGPT: How a lawsuit could shape artificial intelligence in India