OpenAI, along with its financial backer Microsoft, is confronting a new class action lawsuit filed by two US-based nonfiction authors alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, asserts that the companies improperly used the works of authors Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage to train AI models, including ChatGPT and other AI-driven services.
In the proposed class action, Basbanes and Gage claim that the inclusion of their books in the data used to train OpenAI’s GPT large language model constitutes copyright infringement. The authors allege that their works were utilized without proper authorization or compensation.
Representatives for Microsoft and OpenAI have not yet responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
This legal action follows a series of similar lawsuits by both fiction and nonfiction writers against tech companies, accusing them of using their works to train AI programs. Notable figures, including comedian Sarah Silverman and ‘Game of Thrones’ author George R.R. Martin, have filed lawsuits raising similar concerns.
Last week, The New York Times also sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the alleged use of its journalists’ work in training AI applications.
Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage, both former journalists, expressed their dissatisfaction through their lawyer, Michael Richter, stating that it was “outrageous” for the companies to leverage their works to power a new billion-dollar-plus industry without providing any compensation.
This legal challenge adds to the complex landscape of intellectual property concerns in the development and training of AI models, as creators seek fair compensation and acknowledgment for their contributions to the advancement of artificial intelligence.