OpenAI, the company responsible for the development of ChatGPT, is currently facing a class action lawsuit alleging the theft of personal data. Anonymous individuals accuse OpenAI of unlawfully scraping 300 billion words from the internet, including personal information, to fuel its artificial intelligence models for profit. The 157-page lawsuit, filed by the Clarkson Law Firm, claims that OpenAI violated privacy laws by obtaining personal data without consent.
The lawsuit contends that OpenAI’s actions have the potential to lead to civilisational collapse and seeks class action status. The plaintiffs, whose identities are protected, consist of individuals from various occupations and backgrounds. They are claiming damages totaling $3 billion, affecting millions of individuals impacted by OpenAI’s practices.
According to the lawsuit, OpenAI allegedly collected personal information from sources such as books, articles, websites, and posts without proper consent. The company is accused of disregarding established protocols for acquiring and using personal data, effectively engaging in theft as claimed by the plaintiffs. The collected data was reportedly utilized to train OpenAI’s popular chatbot program, ChatGPT, and other generative AI applications, raising concerns about privacy invasion and potential abuse of sensitive information.
The lawsuit also implicates Microsoft Corp., as the company has plans to invest a substantial amount of approximately $13 billion in OpenAI. The suit alleges that OpenAI’s practices not only impact its own operations but also implicate its partnership with Microsoft.
Both OpenAI and Microsoft have not yet released an official response to the lawsuit.
