Artificial Intelligence Vs Copyright, AI Company Charged with Work Theft Lawsuit

AI development companies use work without permission. Lawsuits have been rolling in from various groups.

AFP/KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV

Photo taken on February 26, 2024 shows the ChatGPT application logo developed by the US-based artificial intelligence research organization, OpenAI, on a smartphone screen (left) and the letters AI on a laptop screen in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

CALIFORNIA, THURSDAY — The lawsuit of 10 visual artists against several artificial intelligence development companies continues in United States federal court. The artificial intelligence (AI) companies were accused of violating copyright by training artificial intelligence using their works without permission.

In a preliminary decision on Wednesday (8/5/2024) local time, Federal Judge William Orrick in California gave the green light to the copyright lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by 10 visual artists against AI development companies.

The companies involved in the lawsuit include Stability AI, Midjourney, Runway AI, Open New Tab, and DeviantArt. These companies are accused of misusing the works of visual artists to train artificial intelligence-based image creation systems.

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Judge Orrick's decision is a new chapter in the lawsuit. Orrick deemed the artists' lawsuit to have reasonable arguments. The companies were accused of copying and storing their works on the company's servers to train their artificial intelligence without permission.

Illustrator Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, Karla Ortiz, and seven other visual artists filed their first lawsuit in October 2023. However, at that time, Orrick rejected their lawsuit. Despite the rejection, he allowed the artists' lawsuit to be filed again.

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In November 2023, a lawsuit was refiled with revised accusations. The artists claimed that Stability AI's Stable Diffusion model contained compressed copies of their work that were used without permission. This Stable Diffusion model was also used by all the companies they sued.

AI development companies are accused of copying and storing their work in the company's server to train their artificial intelligence without permission.

Orrick stated that the claim can be continued in the next hearing. However, the artists' claim must be tested based on US Copyright Law.

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Andersen and his colleagues then filed a lawsuit against those companies in January 2024. On Wednesday (8/5/2024), Orrick gave the green light for the copyright lawsuit.

AFP/DREW ANGERER

An illustration photo created in Washington DC, US, on February 16, 2024 shows Sora, a generative artificial intelligence capable of creating videos from simple texts, appearing on a monitor screen.

AI companies argue that they can fairly and reasonably utilize copyrighted data in the process of training their systems.

However, thus far, the fundamental question that has yet to be answered is the definition of fair and reasonable use of a work in artificial intelligence training. Judge Orrick's opinion has not touched on this fundamental issue. This definition is an important question in cases of AI copyright in the future.

Also read: Demanding that Artificial Intelligence Respect Copyright

The court hearing for the case is scheduled for Wednesday (5/8/2024) after Orrick issued his tentative decision. Company representatives have not yet commented on the lawsuit. Matthew Butterick, the lawyers for the artists involved, also has not commented.

Media lawsuit

The lawsuit filed by these artists is only a part of the copyright infringement lawsuit against AI. In early May 2024, a group of newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, a company under the investment firm Alden Global Capital, filed a lawsuit against several AI companies for the same case.

The lawsuit filed in the federal court of New York accuses several AI development companies of using articles without permission to train their artificial intelligence.

MIDJOURNEY/KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

Visual from Midjourney with the command ”goodlooking woman wearing white gown photograph with high key lighting in the jungle”.

The lawsuit was filed by eight newspapers, including the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and several others. The companies being sued, among others, are Microsoft (MSFT.O), Open New Tab, and OpenAI.

The lawsuit accuses the AI ​​development companies of misusing reporters' work to train their generative artificial intelligence systems.

In the lawsuit, it was stated that Open New Tab company copied millions of their articles without permission to train AI products, including Microsoft's Copilot and OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Previously, at the end of 2023, similar lawsuits were filed by major media in the US, namely The New York Times, The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet. The case that is currently ongoing involves Microsoft and OpenAI.

AP PHOTO/MARK LENNIHAN

The New York Times building in New York, USA, as seen on May 6, 2021.

OpenAI spokesperson Lindsey Held said the company respects the rights of content creators and owners and is committed to working together.

"We respect the rights of creators and content owners and are committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from AI technology and new revenue models," said Held, as reported by The New York Times. (REUTERS)