Late September, a shocking discovery shook writer Cathy Marie Buchanan to her core. A friend had sent her a screenshot showing her name listed in a search box alongside two of her novels, The Day the Falls Stood Still and The Painted Girls. It turned out that her books were being used without her permission by AI giants to train their systems to generate text that mimics her writing style. This revelation has sparked a heated debate about copyright infringement and the impact of artificial intelligence on the livelihoods of authors.
According to a piece in The Atlantic by programmer Alex Reisner, a collection of pirated books, including Buchanan’s work, had been used to train AI systems developed by companies like Meta, EleutherAI, and Bloomberg. While several AI companies have admitted to using the dataset, OpenAI has not disclosed any information about the training of its popular ChatGPT system, causing further controversy.
Buchanan decided to investigate the extent of the AI system’s knowledge about her novels by posing specific questions to ChatGPT. Initially, the responses were not entirely accurate, indicating that publicly available information or reviews might have been used rather than the actual text of her books. Determined to find evidence of her novels being ingested, Buchanan asked for a summary of the last chapter of The Painted Girls. The AI’s response stated that it couldn’t provide specific details about copyrighted texts, raising suspicions about the use of her work without permission.
Continuing her probing, Buchanan asked about her third novel, Daughter of Black Lake, which was not included in the dataset used to train ChatGPT. Interestingly, the AI system responded that as of its last update in January 2022, the novel had not been released. This incorrect information suggested that the system depended heavily on the ingested dataset and struggled to access publicly available information.
In response to the authors’ concerns, notable writers, including George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, and Jonathan Franzen, filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft. The lawsuit accuses the tech companies of copyright infringement, claiming that ChatGPT’s ability to generate books similar to established authors’ works poses a threat to their livelihoods. They argue that the system would have been fundamentally different without ingesting their copyrighted works.
The Authors Guild, along with another group of writers, also lodged a complaint against Meta, highlighting the serious nature of the issue. Their statement raises another noteworthy observation: until recently, ChatGPT was able to provide quotations from copyrighted books, but it now responds with the statement, I can’t provide verbatim excerpts from copyrighted texts. This change in behavior suggests that OpenAI has realized the potential legal implications and implemented restrictions to address copyright concerns.
The unauthorized use of copyrighted material by AI systems not only violates authors’ rights but also threatens their ability to earn a living. Furthermore, it opens the door to the creation of counterfeit books masquerading as the works of established authors, eroding trust in the publishing industry. The outcome of the lawsuits will likely have far-reaching implications for AI companies and the future of AI-generated content.
In a world where technology continues to blur the line between creativity and automation, the case of Cathy Marie Buchanan serves as a reminder that protecting intellectual property is of utmost importance. Only by addressing these concerns and establishing clear guidelines can AI and creative industries coexist harmoniously.
As the legal battle unfolds and the debate rages on, the implications of this investigation reach far beyond the world of literature. It raises crucial questions about the responsible use of AI, copyright protection, and the delicate balance between innovation and respect for artistic integrity.
In the meantime, authors like Buchanan will continue to fight for their rights, ensuring that their creativity and hard work are not exploited by AI giants without consent. As the industry strives for a solution, the future of AI and the protection of artists’ rights hang in the balance.
