Protecting Authors' Rights in the Age of AI: Lawsuits Against Tech Giants Meta and OpenAI

Published On Sun Dec 22 2024
Protecting Authors' Rights in the Age of AI: Lawsuits Against Tech Giants Meta and OpenAI

Pulitzer Winner Michael Chabon Sues Meta for Allegedly Using His...

Authors have filed a class action lawsuit against Meta for allegedly using their works to train its Llama artificial intelligence software. Among the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon. The lawsuit accuses Meta of infringing on their intellectual property by using their text to train its dataset.

Allegations Against Meta

Meta released its Llama AI language tool in February, and the authors claim that the company utilized their copyrighted works without consent, credit, or compensation to train the AI model. The lawsuit highlights that Meta's training dataset, particularly from the "Books" category, contains copyrighted works, including those written by the plaintiffs. The authors argue that Meta copied their materials from sources like Project Gutenberg and ThePile without authorization.

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Plaintiffs and Claims

Aside from Michael Chabon, other plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against Meta include playwright and Grammy Award winner David Henry Hwang, author Matthew Klam, author and Grammy Award and Golden Globe nominee Ayelet Waldman, and author Rachel Louise Snyder. The authors assert that they did not consent to the use of their copyrighted books for training LLaMA and demand damages and restitution for the alleged infringement.

The Lawsuit Against OpenAI

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Additionally, the authors have also filed a class action lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, citing similar claims of unauthorized use of their works to train AI systems. The lawsuits raise concerns about companies using copyrighted materials to develop AI tools and prompt legal debates about fair use and copyright violations in the AI training process.

Industry Response

While companies like Meta and OpenAI argue that their AI models learn from publicly available information and adhere to fair use policies, the authors maintain that their intellectual property rights were violated. The legal actions emphasize the importance of protecting authors' rights in the evolving landscape of AI technology and data training.

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Meta and OpenAI have not yet responded to requests for comments on the lawsuits.