A group of highly acclaimed authors, including John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen, and Elin Hilderbrand, have decided to join the legal battle against OpenAI, raising concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on creative industries. This move comes as more than a dozen authors filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, accusing OpenAI, which has received substantial investment from Microsoft, of infringing on their copyrights by using their books to train its popular ChatGPT chatbot. The authors claim that OpenAI’s chatbots are capable of producing “derivative works” that mimic and summarize their original content, potentially harming the authors’ market and without any form of permission or compensation.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alongside the Authors Guild, raises several important points. While OpenAI does not disclose which works it uses to train its models publicly, the company has admitted to using copyrighted material. Additionally, the complaint highlights how OpenAI’s ChatGPT can generate book summaries that contain details not available in reviews or online sources, indicating that the program was likely fed the complete books.
This latest lawsuit by the Authors Guild is notable due to the participation of well-known authors from various genres, including David Baldacci, Jodi Picoult, George R.R. Martin, George Saunders, and Michael Connelly. Douglas Preston, one of the novelists joining the lawsuit, expressed shock when he asked ChatGPT to describe minor characters from his novels and received detailed information not found in public reviews or Wikipedia entries for the books. Preston’s experience led him to question how much of his work the AI had consumed.
OpenAI has yet to respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. In recent months, both authors and industry players have sought to address the increasing presence of AI in the publishing sector. Amazon, for example, has implemented guidelines for self-published authors, requiring them to disclose whether their work was AI-generated. The company has also limited the number of daily uploads to its self-publishing platform and may consider disclosing AI-generated books to customers in the future.
Other lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, by writers such as Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, and Matthew Klam. The legal status of copyright and AI remains uncertain, with experts divided on whether claims of infringement by authors will hold up in court. While some argue that if AI programs create substantially different works, fair use may apply, others believe the authors have a strong case. Regardless, this lawsuit serves as a decisive stand by authors to protect their work and prevent technology companies from exploiting and imitating their creations without permission.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
