A lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court on Friday by two nonfiction writers against OpenAI and its financial backer, Microsoft. The writers, Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage, alleged that their work was misused by the companies in developing artificial intelligence models, including the popular robot ChatGPT and other AI-based services.
The authors claimed that OpenAI and Microsoft infringed upon their rights by incorporating content from several of their books into the training data for OpenAI’s GPT language model. The lawsuit raises concerns about the utilization of their work without proper authorization in the creation of AI technologies.
When approached for comments regarding the matter, representatives from Microsoft and OpenAI did not respond promptly to the requests.
This legal action is part of a series of lawsuits against technology companies for allegedly utilizing literary works to train AI systems, involving notable figures such as comedian Sarah Silverman and the author of “Game of Thrones.”
Notably, The New York Times also initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI and Microsoft recently, citing the unauthorized use of journalists’ work in developing AI algorithms.
Both Gage and Basbanes, as original content creators, expressed outrage at the exploitation of their works to fuel a lucrative industry without appropriate compensation, as highlighted by their attorney, Michael Richter.
The controversy extends to Meta, where despite internal warnings, artists claim that the company employed copyrighted ebooks for AI training purposes. Additionally, a U.S. judge dismissed an AI rights claim against Meta, indicating the complexities surrounding intellectual property rights in the AI domain.
Furthermore, a new tool named “Nightshade” has emerged to assist artists in protecting their creative works and thwarting attempts to misuse them in training AI models, as reported.
Noteworthy authors like John Grisham and George R. R. Martin are also among those considering legal action against OpenAI for alleged infringements on their intellectual property rights.
