Historical GPTOnline editorial cover for the September 2023 lawsuit report, featuring the Authors Guild logo; it is not a court ruling or evidence of liability.
In September 2023, the Authors Guild and 17 fiction writers filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, in the Southern District of New York. The Guild’s September 20 announcement described allegations that copyrighted books had been used without permission to train GPT models and that outputs could infringe the authors’ works. These were the plaintiffs’ allegations, not findings of liability.
OpenAI’s September 20 response emphasized authors’ rights and discussions with creators, according to Axios.
Here are three aspects of the original September 2023 dispute:
- THE PLAINTIFFS: The lawsuit, spearheaded by the Authors Guild and backed by 17 renowned fiction authors, was filed as a proposed class action primarily addressing the impact of AI on fiction writing. These authors, many of whom have extensive portfolios, argue that their works are being unabashedly mimicked by GPT. The Guild’s announcement also expressed concern about nonfiction markets.
Prominent authors such as David Baldacci, John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, among others, form part of the list of plaintiffs.
- THE AUTHORS’ PERSPECTIVE: The authors alleged that their books had been used in training and pointed to outputs they considered infringing derivatives. According to the Authors Guild’s release, the authors are suing for “copyright infringement of their works of fiction,” insisting that their works have been unlawfully used to train GPT.
The authors emphasize that their primary concern is not the advancement of generative AI but the method employed by OpenAI to train their AI, which they believe infringes on their copyrights. They suggest that OpenAI could have opted for a more ethical approach, either by paying reasonable licensing fees or using works that are in the public domain.
- THE POTENTIAL THREATS: The authors’ concerns extend beyond ChatGPT’s ability to mimic their work. The recent proliferation of AI-generated books on platforms like Amazon has added fuel to their worries.
The plaintiffs feared that generated imitations and references to their stories could undermine their rights and earnings. The fact that a model can discuss a book or imitate a style does not, by itself, resolve the legal questions raised by the lawsuit. This article describes the original allegations and response, not the current procedural status or a court ruling.
