It’s not often you see a famous comedian crossing paths with the world of AI. This is precisely what happened when Sarah Silverman, among others, decided to take legal action against OpenAI, the brains behind the AI chatbot, ChatGPT, for alleged copyright infringement.
Alongside Silverman, authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey have also joined the fray. The bone of contention? The trio contends that ChatGPT when prodded, can generate summaries of their copyrighted works without their consent.
ChatGPT, for those not in the know, is a highly advanced AI model. It’s been trained on a massive dataset encompassing web content, news articles, books, and more. Its capabilities are such that it can craft responses almost indistinguishable from those of a human conversationalist.
Silverman’s copyrighted work in question is her memoir, “The Bedwetter.” Golden and Kadrey, on the other hand, are known for their works “Ararat,” a supernatural thriller, and “Sandman Slim,” a dark urban fantasy, respectively. The authors argue that OpenAI is profiting from their works without their explicit permission, amounting to a violation of their copyright.
As of this moment, OpenAI has remained tight-lipped and hasn’t commented on the issue. It’s important to note that the company has never explicitly disclosed the books used as part of its training data for ChatGPT.
The plot thickens as the plaintiffs allege that ChatGPT’s data may stem from so-called “shadow library” websites, notorious for their illegal aggregation of otherwise hard-to-access content.
This lawsuit, according to Daniel Gervais, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. As AI evolves and becomes more intertwined with our daily lives, more copyright-related legal battles involving generative AI are anticipated.
Backing this sentiment is the Authors Guild, a US-based advocacy group for writers’ rights. They have published an open letter urging Big Tech and AI company CEOs to seek authors’ permissions before using their copyrighted works for training AI programs and to provide fair compensation.
This ongoing legal saga highlights a critical crossroads in the realm of AI. As these technologies advance, it’s vital that innovators and creators alike find common ground, ensuring a fair and respectful symbiosis between human creativity and artificial intelligence.