Meta faces a lawsuit over alleged copyright breaches related to its use of artificial intelligence (AI). Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is leading the filing, claiming that Meta’s AI has unlawfully used his works. This lawsuit follow a similar suit by Chabon and other authors against OpenAI and its ChatGPT chatbot.
According to the lawsuit document, Chabon and other authors allege that Meta’s AI large language model Llama accessed, copied, and distributed their copyrighted works without permission. The AI is believed to have been trained on vast amounts of text, including copyrighted material, to improve its language capabilities. This has raised concerns about the potential misuse of copyrighted content in the age of AI.
The lawsuit further claims that the AI’s actions amount to “willful, deliberate, and purposeful” infringement of copyright laws. The authors are seeking damages, though the exact amount has not been specified.
Context and Implications
The implications of this case could be far-reaching. If the court rules in favor of the authors, it could set a precedent for how AI programs are trained and used in the future. Companies might need to be more cautious about the data they feed into their AI systems, ensuring they have the necessary permissions.
The original news story from Reuters also highlighted that other authors, in addition to Chabon, are part of the lawsuit. This suggests that the issue might be more widespread than initially thought, and other tech companies might also be at risk of similar legal challenges.
Earlier today, I reported on the same group also challenging OpenAI in the courts. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, emphasizes that ChatGPT’s capability to summarize and analyze content penned by these authors is a clear indication that OpenAI trained its GPT large language model using their works.
OpenAI has faced similar accusations before. A few months ago, three authors – Sarah Silverman, Christopher Golden, and Richard Kadrey – sued OpenAI and Meta for using their books without permission. They said the companies or their associates got their books from shady websites that offer pirated books for free, such as Bibliotik, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and more. They claimed that their books were among the ones that were illegally downloaded by the companies.
Another lawsuit against OpenAI was filed in June by authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad. They also want to stop OpenAI from doing what they call “unlawful and unfair business practices,” besides asking for compensation for the alleged violations.
In July, some major news publishers also thought about taking legal action against AI firms for copying their articles. They said the AI firms were stealing their intellectual property rights and hurting their business by scraping, summarizing, or rewriting their articles and sharing them on different platforms, such as websites, apps, or social media.
Last Updated on November 8, 2024 11:24 am CET
