OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages

"Last month, AI company Anthropic agreed to a blockbuster $1.5 billion settlement after being caught red-handed training its models on an enormous cache of pirated versions of copyrighted books and other material. Now, a similar lawsuit aimed at ChatGPT maker OpenAI has taken a dramatic turn, raising the possibility of yet another major legal escalation regarding AI-facilitated copyright infringement - and a potentially much bigger payout to rightsholders."

"Specifically, authors and publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset, Bloomberg reports. A New York district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion last week. According to the publication, the communications could demonstrate willful infringement, potentially leading to enhanced damages of up to $150,000 per work, a massive increase from just $750."

"For context: Anthropic's settlement only covered around half a million works out of an estimated seven million, resulting in a payout of around $3,000 per author. Authors and publishers had just gone after similar communications - right before the case settled. "Finding out what attorneys said or what clients said to attorneys and back and forth probably gives us a lot of evidence regarding state of mind," Hamline University professor David Schultz told Bloomberg."

Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement after training models on a large cache of pirated copyrighted books and other material. Authors and publishers suing OpenAI obtained internal Slack messages and emails about mass deletion of a pirated books dataset following a New York court order. Those communications could show willful infringement and trigger statutory damages up to $150,000 per work instead of $750. Anthropic's payout covered roughly 500,000 of an estimated seven million works, about $3,000 per author. Tech leaders continue to invoke fair use for training on protected content. OpenAI's Sora 2 produced videos heavily based on protected IP.

Read at Futurism