Nonfiction writers Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage have alleged that OpenAI and its financial backer Microsoft utilized their creative works inappropriately. They claim that their literary works were utilized in training the widely-used AI model ChatGPT, leading to a proposed class action lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan over alleged infringements of rights.
Former reporters Basbanes and Gage contend that the material employed in training OpenAI’s GPT large language model included excerpts from their works without obtaining proper authorization. Their legal representative, Michael Richter, criticized this practice, stating that it was unjust for corporations to profit significantly without compensating the original creators.
This legal action aligns with similar moves made by authors such as Sarah Silverman and George R. Martin against technology firms for purportedly appropriating their content for AI training purposes.
Meanwhile, Google is currently facing a substantial complaint filed by the Clarkson Law Firm, accusing the tech giant of unauthorized scraping of data from millions of users. The lawsuit targets Google, Alphabet, and DeepMind, an AI entity, alleging violations of copyright laws during the development of their AI products.
Of particular concern is Google’s recent update to its privacy policy, explicitly referencing the utilization of publicly accessible data to train AI models like Bard. This update has raised apprehensions regarding the misuse of personal information, despite Google’s assertion that this practice is not novel and is limited to newer services such as Bard.
In response to Google’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, the Clarkson team has recently amended their complaint, providing additional crucial details to bolster their case. The revised filing includes public plaintiffs representing a vast number of individuals who claim to have suffered rights violations, including bestselling author Jill Leovy. Notably, the updated allegations assert that Google, through data scraping, has infringed upon the rights and intellectual property of third-party websites.
