Authors Sue OpenAI for Theft | Oct 2023
October 2023 | Volume 15, Issue 3
Read the full article on CBSNews here.
The Lawsuit
According to the article, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is facing a lawsuit from bestselling writers including George R.R. Martin, John Grisham and Elin Hilderbrand that claims the company fed their books into its "large language models" allegedly violating their copyrights and engaging in "systematic theft on a mass scale."
The suit was filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of the Authors Guild and 17 noted writers, including Scott Turow, Jodi Picoult, David Baldacci, Michael Connelly and George Saunders.
ChatGPT
The complaint is the latest legal challenge facing OpenAI over the data it collects and uses to create the algorithm that underpins ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence tool that can answer questions and write text in sophisticated language that mimics how a human would respond. To create these AIs, companies like OpenAI rely on large language models, or LLMs, that are fed massive amounts of text and data.
"ChatGPT and the LLMs underlying it seriously threaten the livelihood of the very authors — including plaintiffs here, as discussed specifically below — on whose works they were 'trained' without the authors' consent," the lawsuit alleges.
It added, "ChatGPT is being used to generate low-quality ebooks, impersonating authors and displacing human-authored books."
The suit alleges that ChatGPT has been used by a programmer named Liam Swayne to "write" the sequels to George R.R. Martin's best-selling series "A Song of Ice and Fire," which was adapted into the hit HBO show "Game of Thrones." Martin hasn't yet published the two final novels in the series – the lawsuit notes that he's currently writing them — but Swayne used ChatGPT to create his own versions of these novels, which he has posted online.
"When prompted, ChatGPT accurately generated summaries of several of the Martin infringed works, including summaries for Martin's novels 'A Game of Thrones,' 'A Clash of Kings,' and 'A Storm of Swords,' the first three books in the series A Song of Ice and Fire," the suit notes, adding that ChatGPT has also created prequels and alternate versions of his books.
"ChatGPT could not have generated the results described above if OpenAI's LLMs had not ingested and been 'trained' on the Martin infringed works," the complaint alleges.
A Potential Class Action
The lawsuit, which makes similar claims for the other authors, is seeking class-action status as it proposes to represent "tens of thousands" of authors whose works have allegedly been used by OpenAI's programs. The other authors who are suing are Mary Bly, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, Christina Baker Kline, Maya Shanbhag Lang, Victor LaValle, Douglas Preston, Roxana Robinson and Rachel Vail.
The Remedies Requested
The authors want the court to prohibit OpenAI from using copyrighted works in LLMs without "express authorization," and they are also seeking damages including up to $150,000 per infringed work.
Discussion Questions
1. Based on the information presented in the article, is there enough evidence to assess OpenAI’s liability in this case? Explain your response.
This is an opinion question, so student responses may vary. In your author’s opinion, if the plaintiffs’ allegations against OpenAI are true, this would indeed trigger OpenAI’s liability for copyright infringement.
A copyright is the right of exclusivity provided by federal law to the creator of a literary or an artistic work. The right of exclusivity means that the copyright owner ultimately controls the dissemination and use of the copyrighted material, and that in most instances, the user must seek permission from the owner before using the copyrighted material.
2. What is a class action lawsuit, and how is a class action pertinent to this case?
A class action lawsuit is a collective action filed by numerous plaintiffs who have the same cause of action against alleged wrongdoing by the defendant. The main idea behind the class action is that there is “power in numbers,” and that if plaintiffs collaborate in a collective cause of action against the defendant, their prospects of recovery will be better than if they choose to file individual lawsuits against the defendant.
If the plaintiffs’ cause of action indeed relates to "tens of thousands" of authors whose copyrighted works have been wrongfully used by OpenAI's programs, the case will most likely be certified by the court as a class action, thereby allowing those thousands of authors to choose to participate in the class action (or alternatively, to file their own individual lawsuits.)
3. As indicated in the article, the authors are seeking damages including up to $150,000 per infringed work. What is the basis for such a specific (and consistent) request for damages?
According to 17 U.S.C. Section 504 (Remedies for Copyright Infringement):
“In a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than $150,000.”
If this case is certified as a class action involving tens of thousands of plaintiffs-authors and the court finds willful copyright infringement on the part of OpenAI, the total damages awarded could be in the billions of dollars.
For more information regarding 17 U.S.C. Section 504, please see the following internet address: