Earlier this month, the first authors’ lawsuit against OpenAI/ChatGPT, seeking class-action status, was filed by authors Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad. Now three more authors—Sarah Silverman, Christopher Golden, and Richard Kadrey—are suing for copyright infringement and seeking class action status. They also filed a separate lawsuit against Meta for the same reasons. All plaintiffs are represented by the same law firm.
So far, OpenAI and Meta have not responded to the suits. Most industry experts believe that, for a variety of reasons, the chances of legal success are slim. But the creative community revolt is fully underway. Thousands of writers have signed a letter from the Authors Guild asking OpenAI, Alphabet, and Meta to stop using their work without permission or compensation. Learn more in the New York Times (gift link) or at NPR.
While copyright lawsuits against OpenAI may not succeed, other efforts might. The FTC is now investigating potential consumer harm due to collection of data and the company’s security practices. At a US government hearing, the chair of the FTC said, “ChatGPT and some of these other services are being fed a huge trove of data. There are no checks on what type of data is being inserted into these companies.” There have been reports of people’s sensitive information showing up. Learn more (gift link).
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
