Intelligent Tech

OpenAI Sued Amid New Deals 

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Centre for Investigative Reporting

The Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has taken legal action against both Microsoft and OpenAI, claiming copyright violation. 

The lawsuit was sent to the federal court on Thursday. It was filed in the Southern District of New York, asserting that the tech giant has used and taken content from the CIR without asking for permission and without even paying. 

Since its roll out in 2022, the famous chatbot has been gathering information from various websites with the aim to feed its AI models with answers that helps it provide users with useful information to their queries, they also used content from news articles. 

The lawsuit stated that OpenAI could have been able to respect others’ work when it took the decision to integrate the journalistic field into their training. 

A Free Rider Behavior 

In a press release, Monika Bauerlein, CEO of CIR, accused both tech giants of taking advantage of the centre’s content and resources without asking for licensing or offering compensation, describing this act as “free rider behavior.” 

The CIR, which also includes Mother Jones and the audio program Reveal, further alleged that the San Franciso based company trained its model in a way that it does not recognize or even respect copyright. Mother Jones is an investigative magazine specialized in covering topics related to social justice and political matters. While Reveal is a radio podcast that is part of the CIR and focuses on reporting hidden stories.   

So, the main reason behind this lawsuit is to seek compensatory damages and illicit profits, or enforced damages that amount of at least $750 per copyrighted work, as well as $2,500 for any violation related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA is a federal law that aims to protect copyright holders works from being taken without their prior consent. 

Meanwhile, Microsoft haven’t yet responded to requests for comment on this matter. 

A lawsuit such as the one of Centre for Investigative Reporting is not the first time that OpenAI faces this kind of lawsuit, as many news organizations have sued tworhe AI company for similar reasons, such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. 

Final Thoughts  

What is happening with OpenAI is a bit confusing and contradictory, because it’s been facing many lawsuits over copyright violation and at the same time requesting license for content access. For instance, just yesterday the company announced that it has signed a deal with Time Magazine to have access to their content and cite them. 

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