Center of Investigative Reporting Sues OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for Copyright Infringement

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft are facing yet another lawsuit, this time from the Center of Investigative Reporting for allegedly using articles to train their artificial intelligence systems without consent or compensation. The nonprofit newsroom behind Mother Jones and Reveal claims that OpenAI and Microsoft have copied, used, and displayed their content in violation of copyright laws.

This lawsuit is just one of several legal battles that OpenAI is currently facing from news organizations over copyright issues related to training AI systems. The outcome of these cases could have significant implications for the news publishing industry, as it raises questions about the financial viability of media outlets in a landscape where AI tools can generate search results that bypass direct sources.

While some news publishers have chosen to cut licensing deals with OpenAI, the Center of Investigative Reporting has taken a different approach, accusing the tech companies of “free rider behavior” that violates copyright laws. The lawsuit alleges that more than 17,000 webpage addresses from Mother Jones were included in OpenAI’s data set to train AI products, allowing them to provide responses that mimic copyright-protected works of journalism.

The complaint also highlights the impact of AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot on the market for news articles, arguing that by rewriting and providing abridged versions of copyrighted content, OpenAI and Microsoft are reducing incentives for users to go to the original source. This, in turn, harms subscription, licensing, and advertising revenue for news publishers while allowing the tech companies to monetize their content.

The lawsuit seeks damages for copyright infringement and a court order to remove copies of copyrighted content from OpenAI and Microsoft’s training data sets. In response, OpenAI has announced a delay in the launch of voice features for its chatbot to conduct further safety testing, following legal threats from actress Scarlett Johansson over the use of her voice for one of its AI personas.