AI training: Microsoft, OpenAI hit with new lawsuit

OpenAI and Microsoft have been sued in Manhattan federal court by two nonfiction authors who accuse the firms of misusing their work to train artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT and various other AI-based services.

In a proposed class action, authors Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage have informed the court that OpenAI and Microsoft violated their copyrights. The contention is that these companies included multiple books authored by them in the data used to train OpenAI’s GPT large language model, constituting an infringement on their intellectual property rights.

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This lawsuit joins a series of others filed by a diverse group of writers, spanning from comedian Sarah Silverman to “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin. These legal challenges are directed at various tech companies, accusing them of allegedly utilizing the writers’ work for the training of AI programs without proper authorization.

The New York Times also sued OpenAI and Microsoft last week over the use of its journalists’ work to train AI applications.

As former journalists, both Basbanes and Gage express concern over the situation. Their lawyer Michael Richter, considers it “outrageous” that these companies could leverage their works to fuel a burgeoning billion-dollar industry without offering any compensation in return.