The $1.5 billion settlement in the Anthropic case is based on the piracy of millions of copyrighted works (but not training on such works). Quite naturally, that has led to close scrutiny in other AI lawsuits to determine whether piracy occurred. One of the most visibly important: the case against OpenAI brought by the Authors Guild on behalf of authors.
OpenAI has admitted to deleting datasets of pirated ebooks, and the judge has ordered them to provide their in-house communications regarding such actions. OpenAI claims the reasons for deletion are protected under attorney-client privilege, but the judge disagrees. OpenAI will also have to testify about their knowledge of pirate sites that have been used by AI companies to train their models. Learn more in Ars Technica.
- Related: Authors are suing Bloomberg for training its AI model, BloombergGPT, using pirated books. Last month, a judge refused to throw out the case. One of the named plaintiffs is Mike Huckabee, US Ambassador to Israel and former Arkansas governor. Learn more at Bloomberg Law (subscription required).
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.
