OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is currently facing a lawsuit from renowned writers such as George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, and Elin Hilderbrand. The lawsuit alleges that the company violated their copyrights and engaged in “systematic theft on a mass scale” by feeding their books into its “large language models.”
The Authors Guild, along with 17 notable writers including Scott Turow, Jodi Picoult, David Baldacci, Michael Connelly, and George Saunders, filed the suit in the Southern District of New York. OpenAI has not yet responded to the request for comment.
This legal challenge is the latest for OpenAI concerning the data it collects and utilizes to create the algorithm behind ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence tool capable of answering questions and producing text in sophisticated language that resembles human responses. To develop such AI systems, companies like OpenAI rely on large language models (LLMs) that are trained on massive amounts of text and data.
The lawsuit claims that ChatGPT and the underlying LLMs pose a significant threat to the livelihood of authors whose works were “trained” without their consent. It further alleges that ChatGPT generates low-quality ebooks, effectively impersonating authors and displacing human-authored books.
The suit specifically accuses a programmer named Liam Swayne of using ChatGPT to “write” sequels to George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, which inspired the popular HBO show “Game of Thrones.” While Martin has not yet published the final two novels in the series (as he is currently writing them), Swayne used ChatGPT to create his own versions of these novels, which he has published online.
The lawsuit notes, “When prompted, ChatGPT accurately generated summaries of several of the Martin infringed works, including summaries for Martin’s novels ‘A Game of Thrones,’ ‘A Clash of Kings,’ and ‘A Storm of Swords,’ the first three books in the series A Song of Ice and Fire.” Additionally, ChatGPT has produced prequels and alternate versions of Martin’s books.
The complaint argues that ChatGPT could not have generated these results without OpenAI’s LLMs being trained on Martin’s infringed works.
The lawsuit, which represents other authors making similar claims, seeks class-action status to potentially represent “tens of thousands” of authors whose works may have been utilized by OpenAI’s programs. The additional authors involved in the lawsuit are Mary Bly, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, Christina Baker Kline, Maya Shanbhag Lang, Victor LaValle, Douglas Preston, Roxana Robinson, and Rachel Vail.
The authors are requesting the court to prohibit OpenAI from using copyrighted works in LLMs without “express authorization.” They are also seeking damages, including up to $150,000 per infringed work.
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.
