Microsoft, OpenAI sued for copyright infringement by nonfiction book authors in class action claim::The new copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI comes a week after The New York Times filed a similar complaint in New York.
Microsoft, OpenAI sued for copyright infringement by nonfiction book authors in class action claim::The new copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI comes a week after The New York Times filed a similar complaint in New York.
If you’re using an LLM as any form of authoritative source-and literally any LLM specifically warns NOT to do that–then you’re going to have a bad time. No one is using them to learn in any serious capacity. Ideally, the AI should absolutely be citing its sources, and if someone is able to figure out how to do that reliably, they’ll be made quite rich, I’d imagine. In my opinion, the fiction writers have a stronger case than non-fiction (I believe the fiction writers’ class action against OpenAI in September is still ongoing).
For someone who claimed to not be a fan of OpenAI, you sure do know all the fan arguments against regulation for AI.
I just think current US copyright laws are anti-competitive and ridiculous (e.g. like Disney being able to protect their beloved Steamboat Willie for almost a hundred fucking years from becoming public domain), so why would I defend them in one instance versus another? I’m not against copyright altogether, I just think it’s way over abused and harms smaller businesses and people moreso than larger/wealthier ones.
But anyway, this isn’t a regulation case. This is a lawsuit. If this was about governments regulating AI, I’d be more than thrilled. But nope, just rich corps like NYT whining that they’re not getting a slice of the multibillion dollar pie. Politicians, of course, will continue dragging their feet to regulate a technology that should’ve been regulated over a decade ago when deep learning was really starting to take off.
My point in my edit to my original comment is that this lawsuit will fix nothing. It won’t protect smaller artists/writers, it won’t stop it from happening again. It will purely be a financial reward to the alleged victims if they win. As I said before, LLMs are multiplying like rabbits every week, it’s too little too late. If we want to reign it in, governments have to act NOW. Even if they do, it’ll likely end up in a similar situation as when RIAA and MPI went after pirates in the 2000s.
I’m not here to argue the finer points, and in general I simply try to aim for the practical actions that lead to better circumstances. I agree with many of your points.
This lawsuit won’t fix anything but it will slow down the progress of OpenAI and their ability to loot culture and content for all it’s value. I see it as a foot in the door for less economically capable artists and such.
Lawsuits are not isolated incidents. The outcome of this will have far reaching impacts on the future of how people’s work is treated in regards to AI and training data.