Title: Sarah Silverman Joins Authors in Lawsuits Against OpenAI and Meta Over Alleged Copyright Infringement
Stand-up comedian and actor Sarah Silverman has joined authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey in filing twin lawsuits against OpenAI and Meta. The lawsuits claim that the artificial intelligence models developed by these companies, ChatGPT and LLaMA respectively, have ingested and used copyrighted work without permission.
According to The Verge, the lawsuits specifically highlight Silverman’s written work, as well as books authored by Golden and Kadrey. The plaintiffs argue that the AI models were trained using data obtained from shadow library websites such as Bibliotik, Library Genesis, and Z-Library.
The lawsuit filed against OpenAI presents evidence of the model’s ability to summarize copyrighted books with minimal errors. Examples include Silverman’s memoir, The Bedwetter, Golden’s horror-thriller, Ararat, and Kadrey’s supernatural fantasy noir thriller, Sandman Slim.
On the other hand, the lawsuit against Meta claims that the same books, along with others, were found in the datasets used to train their language model program, LLaMA. The complaint specifically mentions ThePile, a dataset created by EleutherAI, which openly acknowledges its use of copyrighted material from Bibliotik.
The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI and Meta have benefited commercially and profited from the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials belonging to the plaintiffs and other authors.
Represented by lawyers Matthew Butterick and Joseph Saveri, the authors argue that the training datasets used by OpenAI and Meta contain copyrighted works, including their own, which were copied without consent, credit, or compensation.
These cases highlight the growing concerns surrounding the use of artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, a class-action lawsuit was filed against StabilityAI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt. More recently, there has been a rising backlash within the voice acting and modding communities regarding the use of AI in pornographic voice mods. Unity’s new AI tools have also faced criticism.
While AI technology has its applications in various industries, the legal framework surrounding its use is struggling to keep pace. The outcomes of these lawsuits and others that may follow will be crucial in addressing the challenges posed by AI’s impact on intellectual property rights.
As the use of AI continues to grow, it is imperative to find a balance between innovation and safeguarding copyright protections. The intersection of AI and copyrighted material is an ongoing debate that requires careful consideration to ensure fair and ethical practices in the evolving digital landscape.
