More news organizations are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement

Lawsuits begin I’m hoarding against Microsoft and OpenAI, as three more news sites have sued the companies for copyright infringement, On the edge reported. The interception, A harsh story and AlterNet filed separate lawsuits accusing ChatGPT of reproducing news content “verbatim or nearly verbatim” while removing important attribution such as the author’s name.

The sites, all represented by the same law firm, said that if ChatGPT had been trained about copyrighted material, it “would have learned to communicate that information when providing responses.” A harsh story and AlterNet added that OpenAI and Microsoft must have known that the chatbot would be less popular and generate less revenue if “users believed that ChatGPT responses infringed third-party copyrights.”

The news organizations noted in the lawsuit that OpenAI offers an opt-out system for website owners, meaning the company must be aware of potential copyright infringement. Microsoft and OpenAI also said they will defend customers against copyright infringement lawsuits that may arise from using their products, and even pay the costs incurred.

At the end of last year, New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, saying it “seeks to hold them liable for billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.” OpenAI asked the court to dismiss that claim, saying NYT took advantage of a bug in ChatGPT that caused him to recite articles word for word.

The companies are also facing lawsuits from multiple non-fiction authors accusing them of “large-scale and intentional theft of copyrighted works” and from a comedian Sarah Silverman over such claims.