Topline
More than a dozen authors including George R.R. Martin and John Grisham sued OpenAI Tuesday, alleging the company’s AI chatbot, ChatGPT, was trained using copyrighted works of popular authors—the second copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the AI company this month.
George R. R. Martin is one of several authors included in the lawsuit.
Key Facts
The writers and the Authors Guild—a professional association for authors—accused OpenAI of “systematic theft on a mass scale,” according to a filing in federal court in New York, alleging the company copied the authors’ works “without permission or consideration” and used the content to train their language models, such as ChatGPT.
The guild said the language models jeopardize fiction writers’ ability to make a living, arguing OpenAI could have instead opted to train their language models on public domain works or paid a licensing fee to use the copyrighted works.
The lawsuit argues OpenAI should be required to receive permission from authors to use their works for language model training and that authors should be compensated for such a transaction.
The guild is seeking unspecified actual damages but is alternatively open to statutory damages up to $150,000 for each infringed work paid out to the plaintiffs and class members.
The guild alleged in a statement that ChatGPT is used to generate books mimicking authors’ works, citing a recent attempt to generate two unreleased volumes of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series, A Song of Ice and Fire.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Chief Critic
An OpenAI spokesperson told Forbes on Wednesday the company is having “productive conversations with many creators around the world, including the Authors Guild, and have been working cooperatively to understand and discuss their concerns about AI.”
Crucial Quote
“Without Plaintiffs’ and the proposed class’ copyrighted works, Defendants would have a vastly different commercial product,” Rachel Geman, a lawyer representing the guild, said in a statement. “Defendants’ decision to copy authors’ works, done without offering any choices or providing any compensation, threatens the role and livelihood of writers as a whole.”
Contra
Responding to two similar lawsuits, OpenAI said in an August copyright filing that such claims “misconceive the scope of copyright, failing to take into account the limitations and exceptions (including fair use) that properly leave room for innovations like the large language models now at the forefront of artificial intelligence.”
Key Background
OpenAI has been the subject of several lawsuits revolving around the development and use of ChatGPT, including claims the company uses copyrighted material to teach its AI chatbot. The company, headed by pro-AI regulation CEO Sam Altman, was sued by author and screenwriter Michael Chabon and other authors on September 8. The lawsuit accused OpenAI of copyright infringement, alleging the violation is carried out by ChatGPT’s ability to make derivative content based on the authors’ works. Chabon was one of thousands of authors to sign an Authors Guild letter published in July asking the AI industry to compensate writers and receive consent for the use of their copyrighted works. A group of artists including comedian Sarah Silverman filed another similar lawsuit against OpenAI earlier this year.
Further Reading
Franzen, Grisham and Other Prominent Authors Sue OpenAI (New York Times)
Michael Chabon, Other Literary Giants Sue OpenAI Over Alleged Copyright Infringement (Forbes)
