Sarah Silverman, Christopher Golden, and Richard Kadrey have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta in a US District Court, alleging copyright infringement. The authors claim that OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA were trained on unlawfully acquired datasets that contained their works. The datasets were allegedly obtained from shadow library websites such as Bibliotik, Library Genesis, and Z-Library. The authors assert that their books were available for bulk downloading through torrent systems.
The complaint states that when prompted, ChatGPT would summarize the authors’ books, thereby infringing upon their copyrights. Although the exhibit highlights ChatGPT summarizing Silverman’s book, Bedwetter, Golden’s book, Ararat, and Kadrey’s Sandman Slim are also included in the lawsuit. The authors argue that the chatbot failed to include any copyright management information that they had included in their published works.
In the lawsuit against Meta, it is alleged that the authors’ books were accessible within the datasets used to train Meta’s LLaMA models. Meta’s LLaMA models were introduced earlier this year as a quartet of open-source AI models. The plaintiffs believe that the datasets have illicit origins and refer to Meta’s description of LLaMA, where the company acknowledges that one of the sources of its training datasets is ThePile. ThePile, according to an EleutherAI paper, was created using a copy of the contents of the Bibliotik private tracker, which the lawsuit claims is an illegal shadow library.
Both claims assert that the authors did not give consent for their copyrighted books to be used as training material for these companies’ AI models. The lawsuits consist of six counts of various copyright violations, negligence, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition. The authors are seeking statutory damages, restitution of profits, and more.
Overall, this legal action raises important questions about the acquisition and use of copyrighted materials in AI training and the responsibility of companies like OpenAI and Meta to ensure they are not infringing on the rights of authors.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Related to the Above News
Who has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta?
Sarah Silverman, Christopher Golden, and Richard Kadrey have filed the lawsuit.
What are the allegations in the lawsuit?
The authors claim that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Meta's LLaMA were trained on unlawfully acquired datasets that contained their works. They argue that their books were available for bulk downloading through torrent systems and were included in these datasets without their consent.
Which websites are mentioned as sources of the allegedly unlawfully acquired datasets?
The complaint alleges that the datasets were obtained from shadow library websites such as Bibliotik, Library Genesis, and Z-Library.
How did ChatGPT allegedly infringe upon the authors' copyrights?
When prompted, ChatGPT would summarize the authors' books without including any copyright management information that the authors had included in their published works.
What did the lawsuit allege regarding Meta's LLaMA models?
The lawsuit alleges that the authors' books were accessible within the datasets used to train Meta's LLaMA models. The datasets were claimed to have illicit origins, including a copy of the contents of the Bibliotik private tracker.
What are the charges mentioned in the lawsuits?
The lawsuits consist of six counts of various copyright violations, negligence, unjust enrichment, and unfair competition.
What remedies are the authors seeking through the legal action?
The authors are seeking statutory damages, restitution of profits, and more.
What broader questions does this legal action raise?
This legal action raises important questions about the acquisition and use of copyrighted materials in AI training and the responsibility of companies like OpenAI and Meta to ensure they are not infringing on the rights of authors.
Please note that the FAQs provided on this page are based on the news article published. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, it is always recommended to consult relevant authorities or professionals before making any decisions or taking action based on the FAQs or the news article.
