AI Firms Knew Chatbots Were an ‘Existential Threat’ to Journalists, Court Docs Show
A Microsoft executive called OpenAI’s use of publishers’ material “the largest theft of labor in human history.”
A group of news publishers has uncovered court documents revealing that AI companies were well aware that the vast amounts of published text used to train their large language models constituted a theft of copyrighted materials. This was cited by publishers in a court filing that consolidated several copyright infringement cases against ChatGPT creator OpenAI and its partner Microsoft.
Executives at AI firms expressed concern over the "existential threat" AI chatbots pose to journalists, according to the court documents. Microsoft's Director of Applied Science, Brent Hecht, called the use of copyrighted material a "stunning theft of unprecedented proportions," possibly the "largest theft of labor in human history."
OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, testified that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believed publishers faced an existential threat from AI chatbots. Hecht also revealed that an OpenAI employee had found a way to bypass paywalls, and that Nadella believed publishers should license their content for AI development, even if he would have required OpenAI to retrain its models if he knew about this practice.
Microsoft argues that the use of published content to train AI models is significantly transformative and that copyright law encourages such uses, encouraging adaptability and benefiting the public. The litigation could have significant implications for both AI companies and media outlets.
Written by urgent.news from CNET's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
