The New York federal court has rejected a group of authors’ attempt to block related cases against OpenAI from proceeding in Manhattan, including lawsuits filed by the New York Times, the Authors Guild, and others. The writers, including well-known names like Michael Chabon, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Sarah Silverman, were unable to convince U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein that they had a significant enough interest in the New York cases to intervene.
The authors had hoped to either dismiss the cases against OpenAI and its main supporter Microsoft or have them transferred to California, where a similar lawsuit had been filed. However, Judge Stein deemed that the cases in New York and California had substantial differences, and the writers in California had no legal grounds to avoid rulings that applied to different plaintiffs in a different court. Despite the authors’ attorney expressing confidence in handling the unconventional situation, the cases will continue as planned.
Several groups of copyright owners have been suing tech giants for allegedly misusing their work to train artificial intelligence systems. In this particular case, the authors accused OpenAI of using their books without permission to train its ChatGPT chatbot. The Authors Guild also filed a lawsuit in New York on behalf of other writers like John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, leading to additional complaints from nonfiction authors and the New York Times.
While the California authors argued that allowing the copycat cases to proceed would result in inconsistent rulings and waste valuable resources, Judge Stein did not find their reasoning compelling. It remains to be seen how the legal battle between the authors and OpenAI will unfold in the coming days.
Representatives for OpenAI, Microsoft, the New York Times, and the Authors Guild have chosen not to comment on the recent court decision. The case continues to attract attention as it sheds light on the complexities of copyright infringement in the age of artificial intelligence.
