Authors Claim Tech Companies Used Their Copyrighted Works to Train AI Tools

Authors vs. AI.

Thousands of published authors are calling on tech companies to pay them, claiming their copyrighted works were used for training artificial intelligence tools.

An open letter was signed by Authors Guild this week that stated, “Generative AI technologies built on large language models owe their existence to our writings. These technologies mimic and regurgitate our language, stories, style, and ideas.” The letter continued, “Millions of copyrighted books, articles, essays, and poetry provide the “food” for AI systems, endless meals for which there has been no bill. You’re spending billions of dollars to develop AI technology. It is only fair that you compensate us for using our writings, without which AI would be banal and extremely limited.”

Comedian Sarah Silverman and two authors filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta this month while a proposed class action suit accused Google of “stealing everything ever created and shared on the internet by hundreds of millions of Americans,” CNN reported.

OpenAI has reportedly not commented on the suit, but Google deemed it “baseless.”

Authors are not just requesting compensation from AI companies, but according to their letter, they are urging the companies to gain permission before using copyrighted material then pay authors when their work is featured.