Is training an AI model ‘public interest’? Delhi HC verdict goes to heart of copyright debate

OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence research organization headquartered in San Francisco. 5 min readJul 28, 2026 06:30 PM IST First published on: Jul 28, 2026 at 06:30 PM IST By Shivam Kaushik On July 24, a single judge of the Delhi High Court delivered a judgment holding that OpenAI can use copyrighted content to train ChatGPT. The judgment was passed in an interim application filed by ANI in a suit alleging that OpenAI used its copyrighted content without its consent to train its AI chatbot. Justice Amit Bansal held that OpenAI’s use of ANI’s works was prima facie protected under the fair dealing provision of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957.Interim Order Jurisprudence in IP Disputes The 135-page-long judgment is on an interim application. Formally, it is meant to govern the part