OpenAI is facing challenges regarding its use of copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models. The company has appealed to the British Parliament, claiming it is impossible for them to train their large language models (LLMs) without copyrighted material. OpenAI argues that restricting training data to public domain works would not meet the needs of today’s citizens. The company insists that it complies with copyright laws and that legally copyright law does not forbid their training methods.
A growing number of parties, including the New York Times and the Authors Guild, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and its biggest investor, Microsoft, for copyright infringement. The New York Times accused OpenAI of profiting from massive copyright infringement and misappropriation of its intellectual property. The Authors Guild, representing prominent fiction writers, including John Grisham and George R.R. Martin, claims that OpenAI’s use of their works threatens the role and livelihood of writers as a whole.
In response to the legal challenges, OpenAI is reportedly seeking new publisher partnerships; however, it remains uncertain if all publishers, independent writers, or websites would accept such terms. The clash between the AI company and the creators of copyrighted material highlights the ongoing struggle between AI advancements and the protection of intellectual property rights.