New York Times Files Lawsuit Against Microsoft and OpenAI Over Article Use
Last week, the New York Times filed a lawsuit in the Manhattan federal court against Microsoft and OpenAI, claiming that the defendants have used millions of its articles to train and create their large language models (LLMs) and other products. The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft and OpenAI have engaged in systematic and competitive infringement, which goes against the law. The New York Times is seeking damages in the realms of billions of dollars, though no specific number has been mentioned.
The Times Seeks Billions in Damages from Microsoft and OpenAI in Lawsuit
The New York Times is looking for a significant payout if it wins the lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI. While the damages are unspecified, they are expected to amount to billions of dollars. The lawsuit aims to hold the defendants responsible for the unlawful copying and use of The Times’ valuable works. The New York Times claims that it has been in negotiations with Microsoft and OpenAI for months in an attempt to reach an agreement that acknowledges the value of its content in training language models and benefits society as a whole.
Lawsuit Alleges Unlawful Copying and Use of The Times’ Valuable Works
The lawsuit filed by The New York Times asserts that Microsoft and OpenAI have engaged in the unlawful copying and use of its uniquely valuable works. It claims that both companies have used millions of articles from The Times to train their large language models, including GPT-3. The Times argues that its content was given disproportionate weight in the training process, and this has contributed significantly to the success and quality of the models developed by the defendants.
OpenAI’s Weighting of The Times’ Content Sparks Lawsuit
One of the most contentious aspects of the lawsuit revolves around OpenAI’s deliberate weighting of The Times’ content during the training of its language models. The lawsuit reveals that OpenAI used nearly 210,000 unique New York Times URLs for one of the key datasets in the training of GPT-3. Furthermore, the largest, most heavily weighted dataset included at least 16 million unique records of content from The Times across various sections, such as News, Cooking, Wirecutter, and The Athletic. The claim is that OpenAI prioritized high-quality content, including The Times’ articles, over other sources during the training process.
Lawsuit Highlights Growing Issue of Copyright Infringement in AI Training
This lawsuit is just one example of the growing issue of copyright infringement in the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models. Several other lawsuits have been filed against OpenAI and other AI companies for unauthorized use of copyrighted material. The legal proceedings highlight the need for AI makers to address the issue of fair compensation for the training of their multi-billion dollar products. While negotiations between publishers and AI companies have taken place, lawsuits seem to be one way to enforce copyright protection and ensure a well-informed public. As AI technology advances, the challenge of addressing copyright infringement and fair compensation will become even more crucial.
Analyst comment
Positive news: The New York Times files a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI over the use of its articles for training language models.
As an analyst, the market is likely to see increased scrutiny and legal action regarding copyright infringement in AI training. AI companies will need to negotiate fair compensation for the use of copyrighted material to avoid further lawsuits and ensure copyright protection. This issue will become increasingly important as AI technology advances.
