Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI ask court to dismiss AI tool copyright infringement lawsuit

Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI are facing a class action lawsuit alleging that they are 'profiting from the work of open source programmers' by using open source code to train artificial intelligence (AI). In response, Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI have asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

OpenAI, Microsoft want court to toss lawsuit accusing them of abusing open-source code | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/openai-microsoft-want-court-toss-lawsuit-accusing-them-abusing-open-source-code-2023-01-27/

Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI ask court to throw out AI copyright lawsuit - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/28/23575919/microsoft-openai-github-dismiss-copilot-ai-copyright-lawsuit

In June 2022, GitHub announced GitHub Copilot, a code completion AI tool that will continue your code. Because GitHub Copilot is trained using code on GitHub, some programmers have complained that it is 'outputting the code I wrote,' and it was soon pointed out that this may be in violation of copyright law.

GitHub Copilot, which automatically completes source code, is accused of 'outputting copyrighted code' - GIGAZINE

Then, in November 2022, a class action lawsuit was filed against Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI, three companies involved in the development of GitHub Copilot, for 'profiting from the work of open source programmers.' The class action lawsuit was filed by Matthew Butterick, a programmer and lawyer, and the plaintiffs claim that 'GitHub Copilot is engaging in software piracy on an unprecedented scale.' This is said to be the first lawsuit against an AI-based generative tool, and Butterick and his lawyers have filed two more class action lawsuits for similar reasons.

GitHub Copilot, an AI that learned from GitHub code, faces class action lawsuit - GIGAZINE

It has been revealed that Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI have filed documents related to this class action lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco, asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

In their filing, Microsoft and GitHub say Butterick's complaint 'fails due to two fundamental flaws. In addition, the plaintiffs rely too heavily on hypothetical events and 'fail to describe how they have personally suffered copyright infringement.'

In addition, Microsoft and others state that GitHub Copilot does not take anything from the body of publicly available open source code. Rather, GitHub Copilot generates suggestions based on what it learns from the entire body of knowledge gained from the public code to help developers write code. They claim that they are not engaging in copyright infringement as alleged by the plaintiffs.

In addition, the lawsuit alleges that 'Plaintiffs seek to undermine open source principles by seeking injunctive relief and billions of dollars in profits from software that is willingly shared as open source.'

Despite facing such lawsuits, Microsoft has announced a long-term partnership with OpenAI, investing hundreds of billions of yen in the company. Microsoft is also rumored to be considering introducing AI tools into its products such as Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, and adding the AI chatbot 'ChatGPT' to its search engine Bing.

Microsoft announces long-term partnership with OpenAI, investing hundreds of billions of yen - GIGAZINE

Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI are not the only companies facing legal issues over AI tools. In January 2023, Butterick and others filed a lawsuit alleging that AI art tools created by MidJourney, Stability AI, and DeviantArt are illegally scraping artworks on the internet. Similarly, Getty Images has also sued Stability AI, alleging that Stable Diffusion is 'illegally' scraping images from its site.

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Court dismisses most lawsuits filed by developers who claim GitHub Copilot illegally copies their code - GIGAZINE