AI on Trial: The Pioneering Legal Battle Over Machine Learning and Copyrights
Several prominent news organizations, including The New York Times, The Intercept, Raw Story, and Alternet, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research organization. (Yiwen Lu, The New York Times). The lawsuits allege that OpenAI used their journalists’ copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence (“AI”) system, ChatGPT, without proper authorization or accurate citation. Id. They allege that OpenAI unlawfully used their copyrighted content to train its AI system, ChatGPT, violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), which prohibits the “removal of information like author and title from protected works” thereby infringing upon their copyrights. Id.(Cade Metz, et al. & Katie Robertson, The New York Times). As a result of the training, ChatGPT can potentially produce similar content to the copyrighted material which would be grounds for a DMCA violation. Id. This article describes how OpenAI has responded to these lawsuits, how OpenAI has responded to news organizations’ claims, other stakeholders suing AI platforms, and possible outcomes of the lawsuits.
In response to The New York Times' lawsuit, OpenAI has filed a motion to dismiss key components of the case. Id. They OpenAI argues that ChatGPT does not replace a subscription to The New York Times and that their its use of copyrighted material that is publicly available on the internet is protected under the doctrine of fair use. Id. The doctrine of fair use encompasses the right to utilize copyrighted material in particular situations without requiring explicit consent from the copyright owner. (Harvard University). It facilitates the utilization and expansion of earlier works in a manner that doesn’t unfairly impede previous copyright owners’ capacity to regulate and derive benefits from their creations. Id. OpenAI argues that their its training of AI does not constitute copyright infringement because it is protected by the doctrine of fair use and that the outputs generated by ChatGPT sufficiently differ from the original works and do not infringe on their copyrights. (Blake Brittain, Reuters).
Additional stakeholders in the continuing dialogues about AI and its potential impact on how creative content is created and used include renowned authors like George R.R. Martin and Jodi Piccoult. (Max Zahn, ABC News). The authors have filed a proposed class action lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of unlawfully incorporating their copyrighted works into AI models like ChatGPT without securing proper authorization.These authors have “joined a proposed class action lawsuit filed against OpenAI”, claiming that AI systems like ChatGPT have made “illegal use of their copyrighted work” without their permission. Id.
Visual artists, an additional group of identified stakeholders, filed an amended copyright lawsuit against AI companies including Stability AI and Midjourney, alleging the companies did not legally use their works for the training of their AI systems. (Blake Brittain, Reuters). The judge in the case did not agree with the artist’s’ claims that the companies’ AI outputs violated their copyrights, but the judge left their claim that the training of the systems infringes on their rights. Id. The artists claim that the AI systems create indistinguishable artworks from theirs when the systems are asked to create works in their styles. Id.
Legal experts believe that the authors’ case against OpenAI mentioned above could enforce new restrictions on AI technology or strengthen an attitude of expansion towards the growth of current AI offerings. (Max Zahn, ABC News). Should the lawsuits have a favorable outcome for OpenAI and other AI companies, the impact on news sources, authors, and artists is likely not yet determined. As the outputs of the different AI models evolve, the authors and artists could potentially be impacted by similarly produced works. If the lawsuits are unfavorable towards OpenAI and others, it could significantly hamper their AI companies’ ability to train their models and the outputs they could produce. Regardless of the outcome of these lawsuits, these cases will bring more attention to the governance and ethical concerns surrounding AI technology. (Max Zahn, ABC News). The decisions made here could impact the direction of forthcoming AI development, particularly regarding the importance of transparency and the public interest in this rapidly evolving field.