Three prominent digital news outlets, The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet, have taken legal action against OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, for alleged copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Southern District of New York, accuses OpenAI of using thousands of stories from the news outlets to train its chatbots without permission, payment, or credit.
The news organizations claim that OpenAI utilized their journalism to enhance the capabilities of ChatGPT in responding to user queries. This practice, they argue, undermines the financial viability of the news industry and misleads users into believing that the AI-generated responses are original and authoritative.
While specific examples of stolen stories were not provided in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs assert that their content was identified in the responses generated by ChatGPT. The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $2,500 for each instance of copyright infringement.
Notably, The New York Times had previously initiated legal action against OpenAI for similar reasons. The lawsuit highlights the challenges faced by digital publications in protecting their copyrighted material, as opposed to traditional print publications that can afford federal copyright registrations.
In addition to OpenAI, the lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant due to the tech giant's substantial investment in OpenAI's AI initiatives. However, Raw Story and AlterNet did not include Microsoft in the lawsuit, citing a news partnership with the company.
Annie Chabel, CEO of The Intercept, emphasized the detrimental impact of AI developers exploiting journalistic content for their own gain. The lawsuit aims to hold OpenAI accountable for disregarding copyright laws and profiting from the hard work of journalists.
