Authors' Copyright Lawsuit Against OpenAI Over ChatGPT Begins

A significant copyright lawsuit has been launched against OpenAI by a group of popular fiction authors. The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI infringed their copyright works by using them to train ChatGPT, a groundbreaking generative AI chatbot.

The Authors Guild filed the suit in federal court, seeking class-action status. The case has brought together prominent authors, such as David Baldacci, John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jodi Picoult.

OpenAI's large language models (LLMs) are at the center of the dispute. The authors claim that these LLMs, used to train ChatGPT, enable anyone to automatically generate texts that they would otherwise pay writers for.

Furthermore, the authors argue that OpenAI's LLMs can produce derivative works that mimic or paraphrase their original content, causing harm to their market.

OpenAI has previously admitted to using copyrighted works to train its AI models but argues that it is protected under fair use. They maintain that their AI systems use original works in a transformative way and that the generated content is different from what it was trained on.

The case raises important questions about the intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law.

In an unexpected twist, the plaintiffs have notified the court of their intention to amend the complaint and add Microsoft as a defendant. This move comes as a result of recent developments involving Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI.

While OpenAI and Microsoft experienced corporate turbulence, with OpenAI's CEO being ousted and subsequently rehired, the legal action against both companies is gaining momentum.

A nonfiction author, Julian Sancton, also filed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft last week. Sancton seeks to mount a class action suit over alleged copyright infringement.

With these lawsuits unfolding, the outcome will have far-reaching implications for the AI industry and copyright protection.