New York Times reporter sues Google, xAI, OpenAI over chatbot training
New York Times reporter John Carreyrou is suing major AI companies for using copyrighted books to train their chatbots without permission.Summary
Investigative journalist John Carreyrou, known for his reporting on Theranos, has filed a lawsuit against several AI companies – including OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, Perplexity, and Elon Musk’s xAI – alleging they illegally used copyrighted books to train their large language models (LLMs). Carreyrou and five other writers are accusing the companies of “pirating” their books and feeding them into the AI systems powering their chatbots. This case differs from others as the writers are opting out of a class action, believing individual claims will yield better results than a single, potentially undervalued settlement. They argue that the recent $1.5 billion settlement reached by Anthropic with a class of authors only provides a small fraction of the potential damages per infringed work. The complaint highlights concerns that class action settlements allow AI companies to settle numerous claims at a reduced rate. The lawsuit was filed by attorneys at Freedman Normand Friedland, including Kyle Roche, who was previously profiled by Carreyrou.
(Source：The Economic Times)