A major Canadian media organization has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of artificial intelligence- based chatbot ChatGPT. These organizations allege that OpenAl is illegally using newspaper articles to train their software.
Major news organizations such as the Toronto Star, Metroland Media, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press and the CBC are involved in the lawsuit. This is believed to be the first case of its kind in Canada.
“Journalism is in the public interest. OpenAl uses the journalism of other organizations for its own commercial gain, which is illegal,” the media organizations said in a joint statement.
OpenAI said in its counter that its models are trained on “publicly available information”. Also, “We work closely with media organizations. Their articles, along with the author’s name and link, are displayed in ChatGPT. Also, they are given easy options to opt out of participation,” OpenAI noted.
However, in an 84- page petition, Canadian media organizations allege that OpenAI ignored paywalls or copyright protection measures while illegally collecting information. “OpenAI routinely copies large amounts of content from Canadian media organizations to develop their products like ChatGPT,” he added.
The group has claimed that a fine of CAD 20,000 (about ₹11,80,000) should be levied for each article, which it says has not been used legally. This could lead to total compensation reaching billions of dollars.
Media organizations have demanded a share of profits from OpenAI using their articles. It also requested an order to stop the use of their articles in future.
Although this is the first lawsuit against OpenAl by a media organization in Canada, several publishers have previously taken similar actions in the US, including the New York Times. In April of this year, lawyers for the New York Times accused OpenAl of destroying evidence.
Also, writers’ unions and prominent authors such as John Grisham also claimed copyright infringement.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported this week that OpenAl’s last funding round valued the company at CAD 219 billion.
The case could be a major challenge for OpenAI, as such illegal use of media organizations’ assets could further create controversy in other countries.
