Two American nonfiction writers have filed a class-action claim against Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement by using their works to develop AI models.
According to authors Nicholas Basbanes and Nicholas Gage, who also act on behalf of other non-fiction authors with their class-action complaint, their works have been systematically deprived of content by both tech companies.
Using the content of these works, both companies allegedly trained their LLMs without compensating the rightful authors. As a result, Microsoft and OpenAI have been guilty of violating the relevant copyrights.
Compensation could be substantial
As compensation for using their material, the authors are demanding over $150,000 (€137,000) for each misused work. Since they claim to represent other non-fiction authors indirectly, this amount could cost both tech companies billions of dollars.
Also read: New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft: “billions of dollars in damages”
Other copyright cases Microsoft and OpenAI
This is not the first time Microsoft and OpenAI have been sued for violating copyrights by training their LLMs on existing literary works and newspaper articles.
Last September, well-known writers, including George R.R. Martin, Jonathan Franzen and Michael Connelly, sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement. Again, this was a class-action suit in which these writers claimed to represent all literary writers.
In December 2023, the New York Times filed suit against Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, despite the newspaper’s negotiations with the AI specialist.