Welcome back to the Trellis blog! The new year starts with another legal battle concerning copyrighted works and the unauthorized use of written material to train artificial intelligence. At the end of December, media mogul The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging that the companies used The Times‘ published work to train large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT without authorization. This case marks the first time a major American media organization has sued creators of popular A.I. platforms over use of copyrighted, published, written works. Let’s get into the details.
Background
The New York Times adds to the growing list of companies, authors, and artists who have filed suit against the owners of ChatGPT over the unauthorized use of copyrighted works to train their A.I. models. The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan Federal District Court and alleged that “millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information.” Though the lawsuit does not include an exact monetary demand, it argues that the defendants are responsible for billions of dollars in damages “related to the unlawful copying and use of The Times‘ uniquely valuable works.” It asks that any chat models and data trained on copyrighted material from the Times be destroyed.
The Times lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI seeks to protect intellectual property. Additionally, it aims to limit potential market share rivalry and “casts ChatGPT and other A.I. systems as potential competitors in the news business.” This is because, if, for example, ChatGPT was trained on articles published by The Times, people could get their news from ChatGPT, driving viewers away from The Times website, reducing web traffic and decreasing advertising and subscription revenue. According to the complaint, there are several instances of a chatbot providing “near-verbatim excerpts from Times articles that would otherwise require a paid subscription to view.” According to the complaint, this workaround will lead to lost revenue and subscribers for The Times.
Negotiating Copyright Law and Fair Use Doctrine
As technology advances, copyright laws need to be adjusted to compensate for the emergence of artificial intelligence and how LLMs are fed and trained on data. Producers and consumers of AI products and those creating original works used in the development of the technology are entangled in an intensifying battle between copyright law and A.I. development. On one side of the fight are the media outlets, writers, artists, and content creators, who believe they should be compensated if their published works are used to train A.I. systems. On the other side are the creators of A.I., who believe that if A.I. is exposed to copyright liability, this would destroy or severely hamper A.I.’s development and curb its potential. Microsoft— perhaps seeking a middle ground of sorts— addressed copyright concerns in connection with its A.I. products, announcing last September plans to indemnify customers hit with copyright complaints for using its A.I. tools, including coverage of associated litigation and legal costs.
At the center of this debate is the question of Fair Use. A.I. companies base their argument for using published works to train their chatbots on the premise that, if something is publicly available, “it’s fair use for the training of their models.” Content creators disagree and believe they should be compensated if their copyrighted works are used to train A.I. models. One Cornell Law professor and copyright expert stated that he “doesn’t expect the courts will rein in the tech companies; [and] expects voluntary negotiations between the two sides featuring licensing deals or royalty obligations that will result in the dismissal of these higher-profile cases.”
Lindsey Held, a spokesperson for OpenAI, said in a statement that the company “[respects] the rights of content creators and owners” and is “committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from A.I. technology and new revenue models.” It will be interesting to see if The NY Times lawsuit progresses into the discovery phase of litigation and potentially to trial or if parties from both sides are willing to negotiate and find a middle ground.
This year will see many court proceedings concerning use of copyrighted material to train A.I. chatbots. As A.I. technology continues to advance, the practice of copyright law will inevitably adapt, and courts and legislators will need to strike a balance between protecting content creators’ protected works without hampering the development of A.I.
A.I. Upending the Publishing Industry
Most major media companies have transitioned from print to online platforms as their primary source of revenue, and the creation of A.I. chatbots like ChatGPT likely creates more competition within these digital spaces. According to AP News, “The rapid development of A.I. threatens to significantly upend the publishing industry,” and the lawsuit filed by The Times highlights this threat. If consumers can get their news directly from chatbots they will not be incentivized to pay for news subscriptions from sources like The Times.
If the New York Times and OpenAI and Microsoft can negotiate a deal where The Times is compensated through royalties or some other manner for their protected works, this case may not go to trial. Lawsuits concerning AI in the coming year will highlight the complexities surrounding copyright, intellectual property, and fair use in the digital age.
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Sources
https://www.thestreet.com/technology/copyright-expert-predicts-result-of-ny-times-lawsuit
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/27/tech/new-york-times-sues-openai-microsoft/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/27/new-york-times-sues-openai-chatgpt/
https://apnews.com/article/nyt-new-york-times-openai-microsoft-6ea53a8ad3efa06ee4643b697df0ba57
Music: Disruptor’s Dance by Anka Mason
Blog Narration: Anka Mason
