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Global artificial intelligence (AI) is in the midst of a boom; however, there has long been a dispute over copyright issues. On the 27th, The New York Times filed a lawsuit in the Manhattan federal court, accusing ChatGPT's developer, OpenAI, and its major backer, Microsoft, of unauthorized use of millions of New York Times articles to train its powerful AI model, demanding billions of dollars in compensation.
This lawsuit marks the first major media organization in the United States suing OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright issues related to their work. The complaint does not explicitly state the amount of damages sought, but The New York Times emphasizes that the defendants should bear "billions of dollars in statutory damages and actual damages." It accuses OpenAI of illegally copying and using the unique and valuable works of The New York Times and requests the destruction of any AI chatbot models and training data using its copyrighted materials. Although the probability of blocking AI models trained on The New York Times news may be small, if the judge decides to enforce it, it will severely impact ChatGPT.
In the complaint, The New York Times states that it privately approached Microsoft and OpenAI in April, expressing concerns about the unauthorized use of its intellectual property, and attempted to reach a "friendly resolution," including a commercial agreement and "technical protection" for generative AI products. Unfortunately, the parties were unable to reach an agreement. Legal experts are closely watching this case as it could test the emerging legal framework for generative AI.
In addition to seeking intellectual property protection, The New York Times categorizes ChatGPT and other AI systems as potential competitors in the news industry. It points out that when chatbots respond to current events or other news topics, they use The New York Times' past news reports to answer. The New York Times is concerned that readers may find ChatGPT's answers more satisfactory and stop visiting The New York Times website, thereby reducing traffic and affecting advertising and subscription revenue.
Generative AI has flourished in recent years, and media organizations have been studying its potential impact on law, finance, and the news industry. Some news agencies have reached agreements with AI developers; for example, the Associated Press reached an authorization agreement with OpenAI in July, and the German media giant Axel Springer also reached a similar agreement with OpenAI this month. |
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