A group of six authors, including renowned New York Times journalist John Carreyrou, has filed a federal lawsuit against some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence. The lawsuit targets OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, accusing them of using copyrighted books without authorization to train their AI chatbots.
The plaintiffs allege that these tech companies accessed and utilized their copyrighted works in building AI systems, violating intellectual property laws. They argue that such practices were carried out without seeking permission or providing compensation for the use of their material.
The authors are not only pursuing individual claims against the companies but also taking a stand against what they perceive as inadequate settlements in class-action lawsuits. According to the plaintiffs, these types of resolutions allow AI companies to "resolve claims for pennies on the dollar", potentially setting concerning precedents for future cases.
The lawsuit highlights growing tensions between creators and AI developers as generative AI tools gain prominence, sparking debates over intellectual property and fair compensation. At the heart of the complaint is the allegation that copyrighted works have been leveraged without proper consent, raising fundamental questions about how AI systems are trained and the legal boundaries around their development.
