OpenAI and Microsoft are facing a new copyright infringement lawsuit from authors Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage. They allege that the companies used their copyrighted materials to develop their AI system.
The lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court on Jan. 5, follows a similar case by The New York Times against Microsoft and OpenAI, claiming they utilized the newspaper’s content for AI chatbot training.
“Yet Defendants, through their willful and flagrant violations of Plaintiffs’ copyrights, threaten the very existence of writers because without permission or payment, Defendants copied Plaintiffs’ work to build a massive commercial enterprise that is now valued at billions of dollars,” reads filing.
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OpenAI’s acknowledgment of the need to compensate copyright owners, including the plaintiffs, precedes this legal action. The NYT’s lawsuit seeks “billions of dollars” in damages, while Basbanes and Gage aim for up to $150,000 in damages for each infringement.
The NYT expressed its commitment to respecting content creators’ rights and collaborating to ensure fair benefits from AI technology and new revenue models in an article addressing the lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft.
