Nov 22, 2023 11:52:00

OpenAI and Microsoft are sued by authors for copyright infringement over AI

On November 21, 2023, OpenAI, known for developing ChatGPT, and its partner company Microsoft, allegedly misused the copyrighted works of non-fiction authors to train AI. was sued in Manhattan federal court. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and an immediate stop to AI copyright infringement.

23-11-21 Sancton v. OpenAI Class Complaint_toFile_clean - OPENAI COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT sanctoncomplaint.pdf
(PDF file)

https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/zdvxrbbawvx/OPENAI%20COPYRIGHT%20LAWSUIT%20sanctoncomplaint.pdf

OpenAI, Microsoft hit with new author copyright lawsuit over AI training | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/openai-microsoft-hit-with-new-author-copyright-lawsuit-over-ai-training-2023-11-21/

Microsoft Sued by Author Spotlighting Partnership With OpenAI – The Hollywood Reporter

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/microsoft-openai-legal-battle-authors-training-data-1235669632/

OpenAI, Microsoft sued for copyright infringement in new class action lawsuit | Semafor
https://www.semafor.com/article/11/21/2023/openai-microsoft-sued-for-copyright-infringement-in-new-class-action-lawsuit

The person who filed the lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft was author Julian Sancton and others. Sancton et al. claim that ``OpenAI created tens of thousands of unauthorized copies of books in order to train large-scale language models to respond to text prompts entered by human users.''

Sancton points to nonfiction books such as his book Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night as examples. Justin Nelson, Sancton's attorney, said, ``OpenAI has not disclosed what data it used to train GPT-4, but ChatGPT simply used Julian Sancton's book Madhouse at the End.'' of the Earth is included in my training data.''

Mr. Sancton and his colleagues have also filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, which has a partnership with OpenAI. Sancton said, ``Microsoft provides its cloud computing service

Azure to help train OpenAI. Without Azure, OpenAI would not have been able to commit massive piracy and make further profits.'' ', pointing out that Microsoft is closely involved in the development, maintenance, and support of OpenAI's computing systems.

The complaint states, ``Microsoft claims that OpenAI training data has been indiscriminately scraped from the Internet and contains large amounts of pirated material, including non-fiction works that are supposed to be protected by copyright.'' Some people have pointed out that he should have known that.

Mr. Sancton and his colleagues are seeking financial damages from OpenAI and Microsoft in Manhattan federal court, as well as a court order to stop OpenAI from infringing copyright. 'For those who write for a living, it is alarming that our work is being used, without permission or compensation, to train large-scale language models for profit,' Sancton said. ”.

An OpenAI spokesperson declined to comment due to the pending litigation. Microsoft has similarly not commented.