The New York Times has initiated legal action against OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, alleging that the system’s training involved infringement of its copyright.
The legal action, which involves Microsoft as a co-defendant, contends that both firms should be accountable for damages totaling “billions of dollars.
The learning process of ChatGPT and similar large language models involves analyzing vast datasets, often sourced from online repositories.
Seeking clarification, the BBC reached out to OpenAI and Microsoft for their responses.
The lawsuit alleges that “millions” of New York Times articles were utilized without permission to enhance ChatGPT’s intelligence, asserting that the tool now competes with the newspaper as a credible source of information.
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According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT is accused of generating “verbatim excerpts” from New York Times articles when questioned about current events, content that is usually behind a subscription barrier.
The legal claim argues that this approach allows readers to access New York Times content without payment, causing a reduction in both subscription revenue and advertising clicks on the website.
The legal action points to an example involving the Bing search engine, powered by ChatGPT, producing results from a New York Times-owned website without incorporating links to the article or the referral links that contribute to income.
OpenAI has secured an investment surpassing $10 billion (£7.8 billion) from Microsoft.
The lawsuit, lodged on Wednesday in a Manhattan federal court, discloses that the New York Times, in April, sought to resolve its copyright issues with Microsoft and OpenAI through an “amicable resolution,” which proved unsuccessful.