John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, and George R.R. Martin are among 17 acclaimed authors who have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging systematic theft on a mass scale. The authors are concerned about the unauthorized use of their copyrighted works by artificial intelligence (AI) programs. The lawsuit, organized by the Authors Guild, accuses OpenAI’s ChatGPT program of engaging in flagrant and harmful infringements of their registered copyrights.
In the papers filed on Tuesday in a New York federal court, the authors describe ChatGPT as a massive commercial enterprise that relies on systematic theft on a mass scale. The lawsuit also involves authors such as David Baldacci, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, and Elin Hilderbrand.
Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild, emphasized the importance of stopping this theft to preserve the country’s literary culture and the creative industries it fuels, stating, To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.
The lawsuit provides specific examples of alleged copyright infringement, citing ChatGPT searches for each author. A search for George R.R. Martin, for instance, generated an unauthorized outline for a prequel to his famous series A Song of Ice and Fire, titled A Dawn of Direwolves. The unauthorized outline allegedly used characters from Martin’s existing books.
OpenAI, responding to the lawsuit, stated on Wednesday that it respects the rights of authors and believes they should benefit from AI technology. The company highlighted its ongoing conversations with various creators, including the Authors Guild, and expressed optimism about finding mutually beneficial ways to collaborate to navigate the intersection of AI and creative works.
The lawsuit against OpenAI raises concerns about the use of generative AI and the potential impact on authors’ control over their own works. The Authors Guild and the participating authors are determined to address this issue and protect the literary culture that underpins many other creative industries. The outcome of the legal action will undoubtedly shape the future relationship between AI and copyrighted content.
