Anthropic Founder Dario Amodei Dodges Deposition in OpenAI Copyright Lawsuit

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and co-founder Benjamin Mann delay their deposition amid an Authors Guild lawsuit against OpenAI, intensifying scrutiny over AI training practices.

Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO, and co-founder Benjamin Mann—both former OpenAI executives—face subpoenas as part of an Authors Guild lawsuit filed in September 2023 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit, initiated by the Authors Guild and representing writers such as John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, alleges that OpenAI used copyrighted texts without permission to train models like ChatGPT. Their testimony is considered vital given their firsthand experience with OpenAI’s practices.

Timeline and Document Discovery

Initially, both Amodei and Mann agreed in June 2024 to participate in a seven-hour deposition and compiled records from WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger; however, near the end of 2024, their legal team requested a delay to align their testimony with a parallel suit involving Sarah Silverman, Michael Chabon, and Paul Tremblay.

The discovery phase, set to conclude in April, involves sifting through vast digital communications—a process comparable to language model training, where AI systems analyze extensive datasets to recognize patterns, and document discovery, which ensures that all relevant electronic records are exchanged in litigation.

OpenAI is currently also reportedly pursuing a $25 billion funding round with Softbank, further intensifying industry scrutiny.

Coordinated Legal Tactics in Litigation

The strategic postponement of deposition appears to be a move to coordinate testimonies across multiple lawsuits, reflecting the complexities of legal battles over AI training practices.

This scheduling decision comes at a time when various legal actions challenge the use of copyrighted material by AI companies.

For instance, The New York Times is engaged in a separate dispute against Microsoft and OpenAI over news content usage, while the Federation of Indian Publishers has filed its own suit against OpenAI. Each of these cases adds to the mounting pressure on the industry to address issues surrounding data use and intellectual property.

Industry-Wide Copyright Disputes and Related Reporting

The Authors Guild lawsuit is part of a broader series of legal challenges questioning whether AI models are built on unlicensed material.

Alongside this case, other disputes have emerged: Penguin Random House has updated its policies to bar the use of its books for AI training and HarperCollins recently signed a licensing deal with Microsoft for AI training purposes.

OpenAI’s delayed rollout of its Media Manager tool—which was intended to allow creators more control over their data—has also drawn criticism. A former OpenAI employee remarked about the promised tool, “I don’t think it was a priority. To be honest, I don’t remember anyone working on it.”

Expert Reactions and Verbatim Quotes

Notable voices have weighed in on the unfolding dispute. Mary Rasenberger of the Authors Guild warned, “we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the US… Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”

Similarly, Ian Crosby, representing The New York Times, stated, “This is about replacing the content, not transforming it.”

As more lawsuits surface and legal strategies become increasingly coordinated, the outcomes of these disputes may reshape how content creators’ rights are balanced against the needs of AI development. Critics however argue that the genie is out of the bottle already and it’s too late securing the rights of publishers and authors.

Markus Kasanmascheff
Markus Kasanmascheff
Markus has been covering the tech industry for more than 15 years. He is holding a Master´s degree in International Economics and is the founder and managing editor of Winbuzzer.com.

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