Digital News Outlets Sue OpenAI: Alleged Copyright Infringement Sparks Legal Battle
Digital news outlets The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet have filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorised use of their journalism. OpenAI used thousands of stories from the outlets to train its chatbots without permission, payment, or credit. The lawsuit aims to protect the copyright of digital publications and seeks damages for each instance of unauthorised use.
In a bold move to protect their intellectual property, digital news outlets The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet have filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT. The organisations allege that OpenAI used thousands of their stories to train its chatbots without obtaining permission, providing payment, or giving credit.
The practice of using journalism without authorisation has become a growing concern for the already struggling news industry. Some outlets, such as The Associated Press, have managed to strike licensing deals to address this issue. However, after failed negotiations, The New York Times took legal action in December to either stop the unauthorised use or receive compensation.
While the three outlets suing OpenAI did not provide specific examples of stolen stories, they discovered instances of their material being replicated in the training data used by ChatGPT. The lawsuit claims that ChatGPT gives the impression of being an "all-knowing" source of information, when in reality, it is merely mimicking copyrighted works of journalism.
Unlike print publications like The New York Times, digital publications do not have the ability to pay for a federal copyright registration in bulk. However, the lawyers representing The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet argue that their journalism is still protected by copyright law, even without paying the registration fee.
OpenAI, based in San Francisco, has yet to respond to the lawsuit. The company's use of journalism without authorisation is seen as a financial threat to newsrooms across the country. As the industry continues to face financial challenges, OpenAI benefits from the content created by hardworking journalists.
The lawsuit also includes Microsoft as a defendant, as the tech giant has made significant investments in OpenAI's artificial intelligence initiatives. However, Raw Story and AlterNet did not sue Microsoft due to their existing news partnership with the company.
The legal action seeks a minimum of $2,500 in damages for each instance in which ChatGPT utilised one of the outlets' stories. Annie Chabel, CEO of The Intercept, expressed hope that the lawsuit would send a strong message to AI developers who disregard copyright laws and exploit the efforts of journalists.
Digital news outlets The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet have filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging unauthorised use of their journalism.
OpenAI used thousands of stories from the outlets to train its chatbots without permission, payment, or credit.
The lawsuit aims to protect the copyright of digital publications and seeks damages for each instance of unauthorised use.
Source: AP NEWS