BCCL Partners With OpenAI — TOI & ET Journalism Surfaces in ChatGPT With Full Attribution
Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. links Times of India and Economic Times to ChatGPT — summaries carry publication credit and a deep link back to the original story
Mumbai, September 2026: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL) and OpenAI have signed a strategic partnership so readers in India and globally can discover journalism from BCCL publications inside ChatGPT — with clear publication credit and a direct link to the full article on BCCL platforms.
When select summaries or excerpts answer a relevant query, ChatGPT will name the source and push users to the original reporting on titles including The Times of India, The Economic Times and other BCCL properties spanning live reporting and related coverage. The deal is framed as discovery with attribution, not a handoff of editorial control — BCCL publications keep full independence over reporting, verification, editing and publication, and OpenAI has no role in coverage decisions.
Beyond the ChatGPT surface, the two sides will explore OpenAI tech across new products, reader services and internal workflows — archive discovery, research, data analysis, translation, reader services and business operations — with any newsroom use still bound by each publication’s editorial standards and human oversight.
“For almost two centuries, BCCL has believed that journalism is a public trust – rooted in facts, guided by independent judgment, and sustained by the trust of our readers. As technology has evolved, we have continually embraced new ways to make our content accessible to readers wherever and however they choose to engage with it. Our partnership with OpenAI is another step in that journey, enabling audiences to discover journalism from across our publications while preserving the source, context, and identity of the original reporting.” — Mohit Jain, Chief Operating Officer and Board Member, BCCL
“BCCL is an important part of how millions of people understand India and the world. This partnership will help ChatGPT users discover reporting from BCCL’s English and Indian-language publications, with clear attribution and direct links to the original articles. We want to build practical, constructive relationships with publishers in India. That means listening to their priorities, respecting editorial independence and developing products that help readers connect with news.” — Varun Shetty, Vice President – Media Partnerships, OpenAI
Marketing take
AI answers without a byline erode trust — BCCL’s OpenAI deal turns ChatGPT into a discovery funnel that still sends traffic and credit back to TOI and ET, the model Indian publishers will watch as generative search rewrites how news brands get found.
