Two nonfiction authors have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI claiming that their literary works were improperly used to train AI models, including the widely used ChatGPT chatbot.
Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage filed the lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court last week (5 January 2024).
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The proposed class action alleges copyright infringement against the two companies.
Both authors allege that portions of their books were put into the data used for training OpenAI’s GPT large language model.
This legal action follows a trend of lawsuits filed by writers, both fiction and nonfiction, against various tech giants.
Notable cases include comedian Sarah Silverman and “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin, who have accused tech companies of using their creative works without proper compensation for AI program training.
Last week, The New York Times also initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the unauthorized use of its journalists’ work for training AI applications.
Both Basbanes and Gage, who have backgrounds in journalism, expressed their dissatisfaction through their lawyer, Michael Richter, who criticised the companies for leveraging their works to fuel a burgeoning billion-dollar industry without providing any compensation.
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By GlobalDataMicrosoft and OpenAI have yet to formally address the allegations made in this latest lawsuit.
OpenAI’s chief of intellectual property and content, Tom Rubin, revealed to Bloomberg last week that the company is actively discussing licensing agreements with multiple publishers.
Recent high-profile deals include a multiyear agreement with Politico’s parent company Axel Springer SE and an undisclosed arrangement with The Associated Press.
