Microsoft is facing potential accountability for significant financial damages as per a lawsuit that also implicates the company as a respondent. The lawsuit alleges that “billions of money” are at stake due to claims related to unauthorized use of content.
ChatGPT and similar large language models (LLMs) learn by analyzing vast amounts of online data. The BBC has reached out to both Microsoft and OpenAI for their perspectives on the matter.
The lawsuit asserts that ChatGPT utilized “millions” of New York Times articles without proper authorization to enhance its capabilities, potentially positioning it as a leading source of reliable information. It is claimed that ChatGPT occasionally reproduces exact excerpts from New York Times articles, which are typically behind paywalls, when queried about current events.
This practice enables readers to access New York Times content without subscription fees, resulting in revenue loss for the newspaper from both subscriptions and advertising clicks. The lawsuit also highlights how Bing search engine features powered by ChatGPT may display results from New York Times-owned sites without direct links or referral mechanisms for monetization.
Microsoft has made a substantial investment of over $10 billion (£7.8 billion) in OpenAI. The lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, mentions repeated attempts by the New York Times to engage with Microsoft and OpenAI regarding the protection of their rights.
The legal action follows a recent period of upheaval at OpenAI, involving the temporary removal and subsequent reinstatement of co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. This incident led to internal unrest, with employees threatening mass resignations unless Altman was reinstated.
Apart from these internal challenges, multiple complaints have been lodged against Microsoft and OpenAI in 2023. Notable figures like George RR Martin and John Grisham, along with comedian Sarah Silverman, have initiated trademark infringement lawsuits. Authors Margaret Atwood and Philip Pullman have demanded compensation from AI companies for using their works, while a group of computing experts is suing OpenAI, Microsoft, and Git Hub over alleged unauthorized use of their code to train an AI system named Copilot.
Furthermore, legal battles surrounding conceptual AI technologies persist, with artists pursuing claims against platforms like Stability AI and Midjourney for allegedly training their systems on copyrighted material. These ongoing disputes remain unresolved at present.
