Authors file lawsuit against OpenAI alleging unauthorized use of their work to train ChatGPT

New Delhi: OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is facing a legal battle as a group of renowned authors, including Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon, playwright David Henry Hwang, and authors Matthew Klam, Rachel Louise Snyder, and Ayelet Waldman, have filed a lawsuit in a federal court in San Francisco. The authors are alleging that OpenAI misappropriated their literary works to train ChatGPT, the highly popular AI chatbot.

The lawsuit contends that OpenAI employed their writings without obtaining proper authorization, utilizing them to teach ChatGPT how to respond to human text prompts. According to the authors, their works, which encompass books, plays, and articles, constitute exemplary instances of high-quality, long-form writing and are central to ChatGPT’s training dataset.

One of the key arguments put forth by the authors is that ChatGPT can accurately summarize their books and even generate text mimicking their unique writing styles. This, they claim, was done without their consent and amounts to a violation of their intellectual property rights.

In response, the authors are demanding an injunction against what they consider OpenAI’s “unfair business practices” and are seeking monetary damages, the exact amount of which has not been specified in the lawsuit.

This legal action is not an isolated case. Earlier this year, comedienne and author Sarah Silverman, along with fellow authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement. Silverman, author of “The Bedwetter,” asserted that ChatGPT was summarizing her book’s contents when prompted, and she had not granted OpenAI permission to use her book for training the chatbot. Golden and Kadrey similarly claimed that their works, “Ararat” and “Sandman Slim,” were used without authorization. The trio sought a jury trial along with monetary damages.

Furthermore, in a related development, over 8,500 authors from various literary genres, including poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, collectively signed an open letter addressed to technology companies. The letter called for a halt to the use of their literary creations in training AI systems. These authors argued that generative AI, like ChatGPT, effectively mimics their language, narratives, styles, and ideas without obtaining their consent. They emphasized that their creative works serve as the foundation for AI systems to learn and requested fair compensation for this utilization.

OpenAI now finds itself embroiled in legal disputes that have broader implications for the ethical and legal considerations surrounding the use of copyrighted content in training AI models. These legal actions could significantly impact the future landscape of AI development and copyright law.