Eight prominent newspapers owned by hedge fund Alden Global Capital have initiated legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft. The core of the lawsuit is the allegation that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot, have been trained on copyrighted news articles without obtaining permission or offering compensation to the publishers. The newspapers involved include The New York Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sun Sentinel of Florida, The San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post, The Orange County Register, and The St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Claims of Verbatim Reproduction Raise Concerns
The plaintiffs have presented evidence suggesting that both ChatGPT and Copilot possess the ability to reproduce exact passages from articles and, in some instances, deliver complete news stories shortly after their publication without attributing the original source. This capability has sparked concerns over the potential for these AI systems to profit from the publishers' copyrighted material without fair compensation. The lawsuit highlights the significant investment in content creation by publishers, which is then allegedly used by these tech giants to train their sophisticated AI models.
Industry Reactions and Legal Implications
While OpenAI and Microsoft have recognized the necessity of vast text data for training their AI models, they have minimized any suggestions of misconduct. OpenAI, in response to the allegations, told The New York Times through a spokesperson that it “was not previously aware” of the specific concerns raised but sees potential in AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance publishers' engagement with readers. The lawsuit follows a similar action taken by the New York Times against the same companies, accusing them of similar copyright infringements. In a contrasting development, OpenAI has reached agreements with Axel Springer and Financial Times for the use of their content, indicating a possible path towards resolving such disputes.
