Judge rules in favor of OpenAI in copyright case

A federal judge in New York dismissed a copyright lawsuit on Nov. 7 against OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT.

Raw Story and AlterNet accused OpenAI of using materials from their articles without permission to train its large language model (LLM), but the judge dismissed their cases, saying that there was no proof of damages. 

OpenAI argues lack of harm under Article III

In its defence, OpenAI claimed that the complaint failed to state a cognizable claim for relief under the Constitution’s Article III, with no concrete harm suffered by the plaintiffs. The US Constitution, specifically Article III, sets out the power of the Federal courts, particularly in federal questions, including in the area of intellectual property. 

US District Judge Colleen McMahon agreed with OpenAI and dismissed the lawsuit, stating that the plaintiffs did not have a sufficient credible threat to sue. She said that the outlets failed to provide adequate proof that OpenAI caused them direct damage through its alleged usage of their content. 

McMahon also pointed out that the problem was not in the exclusion of copyrighted materials but in the “use of Plaintiffs’ articles to develop ChatGPT without compensation.” While this is a victory for OpenAI for now, there is no telling how the case may turn out in the future. The lawyers representing the news organizations were optimistic that they could assuage the court’s worries.  They vowed to refile the suit with more evidence, which shows that OpenAI may still be in legal trouble if the court rules in the future.

OpenAI still facing copyright claims

The case comes in the backdrop of recurrent legal issues faced by OpenAI and other creators of AI on the misuse of copyrighted content. In February, Raw Story and AlterNet first accused OpenAI of using thousands of articles from their websites without permission and using copyrighted content in ChatGPT. 

Another legal action that was filed by The New York Times in December 2023 alleged that OpenAI had used millions of its articles without permission. Other leading news outlets also have taken legal proceedings against the company for the same reasons, for instance, Time and The Associated Press.

In light of such challenges, OpenAI has worked to obtain legal content rights and has partnered with major media companies globally. It now has a cooperation agreement with leading news providers like Financial Times, French company Le Monde, Spanish group Prisa Media, and German publication Axel Springer. 

These partnerships allow OpenAI to give better and more recent information in its responses without violating copyright rules. In a bid to enhance content, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Search on 1st November. The new feature makes it possible for users to search the internet in real-time and get current news updates from ChatGPT. This feature reflects OpenAI’s policy of using only legal content and appears at a time when AI training is under criticism.