John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, and Other Writers Join a Lawsuit Against AI

• Author: Natasha Herman
• Posted: 2024-07-30

In the past few years, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has exploded. While this has come with some benefits for certain groups, it's also led to some major issues. More and more industries worry that AI software can steal their hard work and then put them out of a job. In a stunning move, several renowned authors have announced a huge class-action lawsuit against one of the biggest AI companies.
 

Prominent Authors Join Together Against AI

On Wednesday, the Authors Guild announced that they were filing a lawsuit against ChatGPT's parent company OpenAI. This writer's organization includes many extremely famous authors. George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, Elin Hilderbrand, Jonathan Franzen, and Jodi Picoult are just a few of the many plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit.

The writers' lawsuit revolves around issues with using AI to write books. Though AI might seem harmless, many creators find it problematic because the software is trained on vast amounts of data. In order to create impressive, realistic-sounding results, programs like ChatGPT scan previously written content and then create new concepts based on the initial dataset.

This can have devastating effects on the industry. Sites like Amazon are already filled with AI-generated books, and some authors like Martin have found AI-generated novels that claim to be a continuation of their own work. According to the lawsuit, ChatGPT and other services are directly harming writers' ability to make a living from their work.
 

Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Illegal Downloads and Copyright Infringement

The lawsuit includes a lot of long descriptions of the devastating impact of AI on the writing profession. However, a close look at it reveals that the case itself is fairly straightforward. The main legal argument behind the lawsuit is simply that OpenAI has infringed on the authors' copyrights.

First of all, there is an issue with illegal downloading of the authors' works. Most published books have a copyright that makes it legal to read and discuss the work, but it does not allow people to use the book for their own professional endeavors. The class-action suit alleges that OpenAI has downloaded copyrighted material and trained their AI software with the material without the appropriate permission from the writers. Much like a movie studio has to pay for film rights to a book, the authors argue that OpenAI ought to pay for rights before putting books into their AI-training models.

The other issue at stake is the use of copyrighted concepts. In addition to mimicking authors' writing styles and techniques, AI can also copy proprietary information from novels. Things like an author's characters, settings, or storylines can easily end up in an AI-generated book. For example, ChatGPT has generated a Game of Thrones prequel that uses Martin's pre-existing characters to tell a new story. The class-action suit seeks damages for people using authors' concepts without their permission.
 

New Lawsuit Is Just the Latest Suit Against AI Technology

This lawsuit from the Authors Guild is just one of many lawsuits related to ChatGPT and other types of AI technology. Many people in creative professions have found it very frustrating to discover that their work is being used to design software that then churns out several inferior versions and makes it harder for them to reach their target audience. There were also two authors suing OpenAI in June and a lawsuit by comedian Sarah Silverman in July.

The main thing that these lawsuits have asked for is more transparency in the AI training process and the option to opt out of being included in it. Some have also asked for compensation related to AI works that directly stole their creative concepts. OpenAI has tried to fight back by claiming that copyright law does not apply to their software. However, only time will tell if this strategy will prove effective.

Ultimately, this class-action lawsuit brings up a lot of major issues with AI. The whole concept is still so new that there is little regulation in place. Lawyers are still unaware of how copyright laws interact with AI content, and there are also uncertainties about whether the AI creators or the AI users should be held liable. Until the matter is settled with new legislation or court rulings, it's likely that more class-action lawsuits from writers, artists, actors, and musicians will arise.