ChatGPT Entangled in Legal Battle Over AI Copyright in the US

Contents

The Legal Allegations Against OpenAI
The Copyright Infringement Case
The Impact on the Technology Sector
The Plaintiffs and Their Works
The Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Sources :

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 11 – American humorist Sarah Silverman, together with two other writers, have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI. This legal action is the latest pushback by creators against OpenAI’s globally-acclaimed AI, ChatGPT.

The Legal Allegations Against OpenAI

The litigants claim that OpenAI, based in San Francisco, has illegally used their intellectual properties to educate their AI models. This accusation is part of a string of legal cases that could potentially disrupt the growth trajectory of one of the tech industry’s most promising innovations.

These writers also instituted a legal action against Facebook’s parent company, Meta, accusing them of illicitly using their books for training their lesser-known open source models.

The Copyright Infringement Case

OpenAI and Meta have been alleged to use copyrighted materials, such as the plaintiffs’ books, in training their AI models. This is done without securing prior permission, without giving due credit, and without providing remuneration, according to the writers’ legal representatives.

The lawsuits, lodged last Friday in a California court, allege that these tech giants infringed copyright laws by using the writers’ books to train their AI models.

The Impact on the Technology Sector

Success in these kinds of lawsuits could disrupt the method by which such technology is created. It could set limits on the way technology behemoths build their models and produce persuasive, human-like content.

The surge of recent lawsuits includes those brought by owners of source codes against OpenAI and Microsoft’s GitHub, visual artists, and Getty, a photo agency, against Stability AI.

San Francisco attorneys Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick, who have previously filed similar lawsuits, are leading the current lawsuit on behalf of Silverman and writers Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey.

The Plaintiffs and Their Works

The lawsuit cites Silverman’s bestselling 2010 memoir “The Bedwetter,” Golden’s horror novel “Ararat,” and Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series of supernatural noir books.

Silverman is nationally recognized for her bold humor, often stirring controversy, and for her vocal stance on socio-political issues.

The Case Against OpenAI and Meta

Against OpenAI, the plaintiffs argue that their copyrighted books were utilized to train ChatGPT without their consent.

As part of the lawsuit, the writers supplied exhibits showing detailed summaries of their works produced by ChatGPT.

As for Meta, the litigants claim that the company relied on an illicitly compiled “shadow library” to develop their LLaMA models, which incorporated their works.

Such shadow libraries reportedly use pirated torrent downloads to unlawfully distribute copyrighted materials.

In response to the lawsuit, OpenAI opted not to comment, while Meta did not promptly respond to requests for comment.