The most recent copyright lawsuit in the realm of AI centers around Mike Huckabee and his literary works
Authors Take Legal Action Against Tech Giants in AI Copyright Lawsuit
In a significant legal development, a group of authors, including former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and prominent Christian writer Lysa TerKeurst, are suing tech behemoths Meta and Microsoft, alongside other entities such as EleutherAI and Bloomberg, over the unauthorized use of their literary works in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that the authors’ books were illicitly employed in datasets that served as the foundation for training AI models.
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This case is part of a growing trend where authors are increasingly asserting that tech companies have used their literary creations without obtaining the necessary permissions for training generative AI models. Notably, in recent months, a slew of acclaimed authors, including George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, and Michael Chabon, have initiated legal action against OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement.
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At the heart of the Huckabee case lies a contentious collection of data known as “Books3,” encompassing over 180,000 literary works. This compilation forms an integral component of the dataset utilized to train large language models. In August, The Atlantic unveiled a searchable database, complete with author information, encompassing all the titles present in Books3. It’s essential to note that Books3 is part of a more extensive reservoir of data called the “Pile,” created by EleutherAI, which, according to the lawsuit, was leveraged by various companies in the training of their AI products.
The lawsuit specifically contends that “[Meta and Microsoft] were able to incorporate sophisticated datasets, which included the pirated copyright-protected materials in Books3, as part of the LLM’s training process, without having to compensate the authors.”
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While Microsoft opted not to comment on this matter, Meta, Bloomberg, and EleutherAI have not responded to requests for comments.
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AI companies depend on vast quantities of publicly available data to train their AI models, encompassing not only literature but also photographs, art, music, and more. As AI tools like ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion have become increasingly accessible, a contentious debate, coupled with legal actions, has arisen regarding the compensation owed to individuals who contribute their data. Notably, in January, Getty Images filed a lawsuit against the creators of the AI art tool Stable Diffusion, alleging the unlawful replication of millions of copyrighted images for the purpose of model training.
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This lawsuit underscores the evolving landscape of AI and copyright issues, where authors are asserting their rights in the digital age and the ethical use of their literary works for training cutting-edge AI technologies. It raises questions about the responsibilities of tech giants and AI developers in ensuring compliance with copyright laws and fairly compensating creators.
