Rival news organizations are banding together for a noble cause: protecting their copyrighted materials from ChatGPT.
What happened:Ā A coalition of Canadian news companiesĀ is suing OpenAI, claiming the company illegally trained its AI models on their news stories. The group wants $20,000 per article used by OpenAI, which could put the total damages in the billions.
- The group includes Torstar,Ā The Globe and Mail,Ā Postmedia, Canadian Press, and CBC.
- The suit also asks OpenAI to turn over any profits made off of the news organizationsā content, and to bar the company from using their articles in the future.
Catch-up:Ā Several outlets have sued OpenAI, the most prominent of which being theĀ New York Times. That lawsuit didnāt include an exact dollar figure ā calling broadly for ābillions of dollarsā in damages ā but did ask for an order to destroy models and training data that used its copyrighted work.
- Other outlets that have sued OpenAI include a group owned by Alden Global Capital ā including theĀ New York Daily News,Ā Chicago Tribune, andĀ Orlando SentinelĀ ā progressive magazineĀ Mother Jones,Ā and investigative outletĀ The Intercept.
Zoom in:Ā How do you determine how much of OpenAIās profits came from Canadian news content? OpenAI may have to track exactly how many of the millions of queries it gets every day returned info from Canadian news outlets or argue for an amount based on what percentage of training data is from the group.
- Both options would require outside lawyers to pore over OpenAIās training data and models, which have been closely guarded secrets. TheĀ NYTĀ getting a peek is why the currently ongoing discovery phase of its lawsuitĀ is such a big deal.
- AnyĀ monetary penalty would hurt OpenAI, which isĀ reportedly āburning throughā cashĀ in a race to develop new products.
Why it matters:Ā Even if a court picks lesser penalties or OpenAI decides to settle, it could add to struggling news outletsā coffers and force OpenAI and companies like it to be a bit more diligent about using copyrighted material ā be it to save cash or avoid the headache of going back to court.
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