Authors like John Grisham and George R.R. Martin have filed lawsuits over concerns about AI.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in New York will hold the first hearing in a high-profile case over copyright concerns raised by artificial intelligence.
A group of prominent authors, including David Baldacci, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, George RR Martin, and Jodi Picoult, are suing OpenAI for allegedly misusing their work to train the popular chatbot ChatGPT.
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status and was filed in September by the Authors Guild on behalf of authors, accuses OpenAI of copying works of fiction without permission.
“Defendant then inputted plaintiff's copyrighted work into plaintiff's 'large language model,' or 'LLM,' an algorithm designed to output human-like text responses to user prompts and queries.” the complaint alleges. “These algorithms are at the heart of Defendants' large-scale commercial enterprises. And at the heart of these algorithms is large-scale organized theft.”
OpenAI argued that training ChatGPT using material found online constituted fair use under copyright law, but the authors argued that OpenAI should pay a license fee.
“Unjustly and perversely, without Plaintiffs' copyrighted works to “train” LLMs, Defendants are harming the market for the works of these professional writers, i.e., creating a commerce that cannot be usurped. You won't have any products. “Defendant's intentional copying of Plaintiff's copyrighted work thus becomes the impetus for Plaintiff's own destruction,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit shows artists' growing concerns about artificial intelligence. One of the key tenants of the recently concluded stakeholder strike also focused on the use of AI.
“The Authors Guild is dedicated to protecting the world of literature and the profession of writing. This lawsuit is just the beginning of our fight to protect authors from theft by OpenAI and other generative AIs.” said Authors Guild President Maya Schanberg Lang.
An OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News at the time the lawsuit was filed that the company has had generally constructive discussions with creators and believes its technology will be beneficial to creators.
“Creative professionals around the world use ChatGPT as part of their creative process. We respect the rights of writers and authors and believe they should benefit from AI technology.” said the spokesperson. “We have had productive conversations with many creators around the world, including the Authors Guild, and have worked with them to understand and discuss their concerns about AI.”
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial, an award of up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each infringing work, and other relief.
ABC News' Max Zahn contributed to this report.
