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Topline
A district court judge dismissed multiple claims this week from writers like Sarah Silverman who allege OpenAI’s ChatGPT is pirating their works to train the popular chatbot—though the question of whether OpenAI directly infringed on their copyrights still remains.
Sarah Silverman at the Los Angeles special screening of “Maestro” held at the Academy Museum of … [+]
Key Facts
Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín on Monday struck down five claims accusing OpenAI of copyright violations and several other infractions, saying the authors failed to prove economic injury and cite any particular output from ChatGPT that was “substantially similar — or similar at all — to their books.”
The authors’ failure to allege direct copying of their work means they’ll have to show a “substantial similarity between the outputs and the copyrighted materials,” Martínez-Olguín wrote.
However, the plaintiffs—including Silverman, New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden and others—have suggested they don’t need to allege a “substantial similarity” because they have evidence of “direct copying” of copyrighted books to train artificial intelligence language models, according to the filing.
The judge still upheld an unfair competition claim made by the authors accusing OpenAI of not seeking permission to use their copyrighted works for profit—a claim OpenAI didn’t move to dismiss.
OpenAI and representatives for the authors didn’t immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
What To Watch For
The authors can file changes to the complaint by March 13 in order to continue with the unfair competition claim upheld by the judge, which alleged OpenAI used copyrighted books to train its chatbot without permission.
Key Background
Artificial intelligence software such as chatbots and image generators have come under legal fire following their rise in popularity, with companies and writers accusing firms like OpenAI of using their works without permission to train and improve their AI products. George R.R. Martin, John Grisham and several other authors sued OpenAI last September for copyright infringement, accusing the company of “systematic theft on a mass scale” and arguing authors should be compensated for the use of their work. The lawsuit is still ongoing. The New York Time also sued OpenAI and Microsoft last year, accusing the companies of unlawful use of millions of copyrighted articles to train its generative AI models that allegedly caused billions of dollars in damages. The Times argued the tech companies’ AI products damage its “relationship with its readers and deprive The Times of subscription, licensing, advertising, and affiliate revenue.”
Contra
OpenAI has argued the authors’ works aren’t similar enough to ChatGPT’s outputs to constitute a copyright violation. In response to similar lawsuits they’re involved in, OpenAI said in a filing last year that copyright claims “misconceive the scope of copyright” and fail to take into account the limitations and exceptions that “properly leave room for innovations like the large language models now at the forefront of artificial intelligence.”
Further Reading
George R.R. Martin And Other Big-Name Authors Sue OpenAI For Copyright Infringement (Forbes)
New York Times Sues OpenAI And Microsoft: ‘Billions’ Owed For AI Copyright Infringement, Case Claims (Forbes)