Though AI has affected our lives, it has been alleged that it ingests copyright works while being trained. Already, we know several authors and the New York Times have sued (December 2023) OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright violation. It has been alleged by the NYT that LLMs have been built copying and using copyrighted news articles, in-depth investigations, opinion pieces, reviews, how-to-guides and so on.

It deprives the NYT to enjoy the fruits of their labour. Instead, the LLMs enjoy the fruits of the NYT’s labour.

These LLMs at times reproduce the copyrighted content verbatim or closely summarize the content or mimic the writing style as demonstrated by examples.

In short, the LLMs use intellectual property without paying for it. AI companies enrich themselves in terms of valuation. The specimens of the NYT articles thrown up verbatim are attached.

The AI companies call the use of material for training as fair use. (The NYT counters by saying there is nothing transformative about using AI content without paying for it).

OpenAI responds that the Times paid someone to hack OpenAI’s, products. The ‘anomalous results’ are generated after tens of thousands of motivated prompts. It violates the terms of use of the model. Besides, these articles have appeared on multiple public websites.

Microsoft compares the suit to the scriptwriters’ suit against VCR where copyright allegation was raised. The courts ruled in favour of technology. That decision did not destroy Hollywood. Instead, entertainment industry flourished.

All news corporations have not chosen to fight. Some have joined hands with AI companies by striking deals. It could be a licensing deal to use archives of news stories.