by The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of using millions of articles from the Times without permission to train their AI models. The lawsuit claims that the companies are using the Times’ journalism to build AI chatbots without consent or compensation, which the Times argues is a violation of copyright law.
Copyright issues have become a heated topic in the generative AI sector, with publishers, musicians, and artists increasingly taking legal action to protect their content and get paid for its use in technology development.
By filing the lawsuit, the New York Times has taken a more confrontational approach compared to other media groups that have entered content deals with OpenAI. The Times argues that if news organizations cannot produce and safeguard their independent journalism, there will be a significant loss with no computer or AI capable of filling the resulting void.
The renowned news organization is seeking damages and an order for the companies to cease using its content for AI model training and destroy any collected data. While the lawsuit does not specify a monetary amount, the Times states that the infringement could potentially amount to billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.
Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI and the second largest company by market capitalization, has integrated AI capabilities into its own products following the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The AI models powering ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot were trained on content freely available on the internet under the assumption that it could be used without compensation.
However, the New York Times lawsuit argues that the use of its work by these companies was unlawful because it created a potential rival to news publishers. OpenAI expressed surprise and disappointment at the lawsuit, as the company claims it was engaged in constructive discussions with the Times to address the issue.
The Times alleges that ChatGPT and Copilot generate content that closely mimics the New York Times’ style and, at times, falsely cites the paper as a source. The lawsuit also contends that OpenAI gives preferential treatment to the output of its AI models because of their perceived reliability.
This lawsuit adds to the growing number of legal battles faced by AI giants for their use of internet content to train AI systems that generate content based on prompts. Last year, famous authors, including George RR Martin, filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of violating their copyrights. Music publishers and photography distributors have also taken legal action against AI companies for unauthorized use of copyrighted material.
In response to the mounting lawsuits, Microsoft and Google have announced that they will cover the legal fees of their corporate customers sued for copyright infringement related to AI-generated content.
The New York Times lawsuit highlights the increasing need for clear guidelines and agreements regarding the use of copyrighted material in AI development. As AI technology continues to advance, it is crucial to strike a balance between innovation and protecting the rights of content creators and publishers.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
Money Singh is a seasoned content writer with over four years of experience in the market research sector. Her expertise spans various industries, including food and beverages, biotechnology, chemicals and materials, defense and aerospace, consumer goods, etc.
