OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defends AI training on news content

Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, has defended the company’s use of copyrighted news articles and opinion pieces to train artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT, citing the US principle of fair use.

Speaking on Thursday at AI summit in Delhi, Altman said the company’s position is grounded in existing legal frameworks while it continues to examine commercial arrangements with content 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," Altman said.

He added that OpenAI relies on the US principle of fair use, noting that 'models can learn like people can learn, but models also can't play tricks that people can't play.'

Altman described the approach as an attempt to allow AI systems to learn from publicly available material while remaining within intellectual property boundaries.

The comments come as several publishers pursue legal action against AI companies, alleging that their copyrighted material has been used without authorisation.

OpenAI has maintained that its training practices are consistent with fair use under US law, even as it explores licensing agreements and partnerships with media organisations.