Nvidia, the renowned chipmaker known for powering artificial intelligence, is facing a lawsuit from three authors who claim that their copyrighted works were used without permission to train Nvidia’s NeMo AI platform. The authors – Brian Keene, Abdi Nazemian, and Stewart O’Nan – allege that their books were part of a dataset of nearly 196,640 books that helped train NeMo in emulating ordinary written language.
The authors further claim that Nvidia admitted to training NeMo on the dataset by taking it down in October due to reported copyright infringement. They are now seeking unspecified damages on behalf of those whose copyrighted works were used for training NeMo’s large language models in the last three years.
Some of the works mentioned in the lawsuit include Keene’s Ghost Walk, Nazemian’s Like a Love Story, and O’Nan’s Last Night at the Lobster. Nvidia has remained silent on the matter, declining to comment, while legal representatives for the authors have yet to provide additional statements.
This lawsuit is a part of a broader trend of litigation involving generative AI technology, which creates new content based on various inputs. Nvidia’s NeMo is promoted as a speedy and cost-effective solution for adopting generative AI. Other companies facing legal challenges over similar technology include OpenAI and its partner Microsoft, who created the AI platform ChatGPT.
Despite the legal hurdles, Nvidia continues to be a favorite among investors due to the rise of AI technology. With its stock price experiencing nearly a 600% increase since the end of 2022, Nvidia boasts a market value of nearly $2.2 trillion.
As the legal battle unfolds, it showcases the complexities surrounding the use of copyrighted works in AI training and the potential implications for tech giants like Nvidia. The case is set to proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California under the title Nazemian et al v Nvidia Corp.
