Title: Sarah Silverman and Two Other Authors Sue OpenAI and Meta for Copyright Infringement
Artificial intelligence continues to make headlines as three American authors, Sarah Silverman, Christopher Golden, and Richard Kadrey, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement. The authors claim that their works were used without their consent by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA, which were trained on illegally acquired datasets. The lawsuits shed light on the issue of shadow libraries and their role in providing copyrighted content for AI training purposes.
The complainants assert that the datasets used to train ChatGPT and LLaMA include copyrighted material sourced from websites such as Library Genesis, Bibliotik, and Z-Library, which are easily available through torrent systems. One of the sources mentioned, The Pile, was compiled by EleutherAI, claiming to be derived from an illicit copy of Bibliotik’s contents, verifying the authors’ claims.
The lawsuit against OpenAI presents evidence that ChatGPT can accurately summarize the authors’ books without acknowledging their copyright ownership. To substantiate their case, the authors provided summaries generated by ChatGPT for their respective works, including Bedwetter by Silverman, Ararat by Golden, and Sandman Slim by Kadrey.
In the lawsuit against Meta, the authors highlight the questionable sources used by the company to create training datasets for their AI models. The authors emphasize that these sources, including shadow libraries, are not only blatantly illegal but also violate their rights as creators.
Both lawsuits assert that the authors did not provide consent for their copyrighted works to be utilized as AI training material. The complainants seek compensation for damages, restitution of profits, and other compensatory measures to rectify the infringement.
The creative industries, particularly Hollywood writers, are increasingly concerned about the impact of AI on their livelihood. Hollywood writers recently organized a protest demanding better working conditions, further shedding light on the challenges posed by AI systems and their potential implications for creative professionals.
Legal challenges involving AI systems have been on the rise in recent months. ChatGPT faced a defamation lawsuit for disseminating false information, while Midjourney also encountered a lawsuit earlier this year for copyright infringement brought forth by artists. These instances underscore the mounting legal and ethical complexities associated with the deployment of AI technologies in various sectors, especially creative industries.
As the lawsuits against OpenAI and Meta progress, the outcomes will likely shape the future use of copyrighted material in AI training and prompt discussions on potential safeguards to protect creators’ rights. The implications of these cases for the broader AI landscape cannot be overlooked, underscoring the pressing need for clarity in the legal and ethical domains surrounding AI’s creative application.
