Journalists file copyright infringement lawsuit against Microsoft, OpenAI

Microsoft copyright class action overview: 

• Who: Microsoft and OpenAI are facing a class action lawsuit from two journalists over accusations of copyright infringement. 
• Why: The journalists claim they should be compensated by Microsoft and OpenAI for use of their copyrighted work in training the artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT.
• Where: The OpenAI copyright lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York.

Microsoft and OpenAI are facing a class action lawsuit from a pair of journalists claiming the companies used their copyrighted work and that of other journalists to train the artificial intelligence (AI) program ChatGPT.

The journalists claim that their copyrighted work was used in building ChatGPT’s language learning model along with the work of journalists everywhere. But the companies have not been clear on exactly which works they used to develop ChatGPT.

“OpenAI has kept secret the materials it took without compensation or permission to ‘train’ its LLMs,” the lawsuit says. “As a result, plaintiffs cannot perfectly discern the contents of their works that were stolen by defendants. Thus, plaintiffs make the specific allegations of infringement based on what is publicly known about OpenAI’s training practices and what is known about the contents, uses, and availability of the pirate book repositories such as LibGen, Bibliotik, and ZLibrary.”

Microsoft invested $13B in OpenAI between 2019 and 2023, lawsuit says

OpenAI held non-profit status for a short time but then Microsoft invested a total of $13 billion between 2019 and 2023, with $10 billion in 2023, the OpenAI lawsuit says.

OpenAI is currently valued at $80 billion, the Microsoft copyright class action says.

The New York Times recently filed a similar lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI accusing the companies of using its copyrighted journalism content to build the AI program ChatGPT and profiting off it without compensating the Times.

After the lawsuit, OpenAI and Microsoft acknowledged that those whose copyrighted work was used should be compensated.

“We respect the rights of content creators and owners and are committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from AI technology and new revenue models,” the defendants said after the New York Times lawsuit, the OpenAI lawsuit says.

Have you ever used Microsoft’s OpenAI? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Michael P. Richter and Bryan M. Goldstein of Grant Herrmann Schwartz and Klinger LLP.

The Microsoft copyright class action lawsuit is Basbanes, et al. v. Microsoft Corp., et al., Case No. 1:24-cv-00084, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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