Penning creative content is a task that requires one to have a serious conversation with their brain. Materialising ideas that pop up in your head into readable content and articulating them in a way that will leave the audience wanting more is a special skill that is mastered by many of the best-selling authors. It is only natural that they take pride in their work because they have first-hand experience of how demanding the job is. Imagine belonging to the same calibre of writers such as George RR Martin, John Grisham and Jodi Picoult. It will truly be a thing of dreams. But what if all of a sudden, their oeuvre which was an outcome of their blood, sweat and tears was stolen, their copyright was infringed and overnight their work became redundant? Sadly, the aforementioned authors have now found themselves in a situation as such, one that they had not even predicted would happen in their nightmares.
RR Martin is celebrated for his fantasy series, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, which was adapted into the HBO show ‘Game of Thrones’. This show in itself was a cultural reset that had the entire world in a chokehold. Its popularity knew no bounds, neither did its creative elements. Similarly, Jodi Picoult and John Grisham need no special introduction, as celebrated authors in their respective genres. And these three authors collaborating on a piece of work would be a force to reckon with. They have in fact collaborated, not to create a work of art but to sue OpenAI for “systematic theft on a mass scale”. They have accused the generative AI tool of using content from their books without their approval to flesh out the brains of ChatGPT so that it will have more information at its disposal. And they are just three out of 17 authors who have joined forces to do so.
The lawsuit filed against OpenAI claims that the organisation has engaged in widespread and deliberate copyright infringement. They argue that the ChatGPT programme, which they describe largely as a commercial venture, relies on the unauthorised use of their copyrighted works. The Authors Guild coordinated this legal action, which also involves authors such as David Baldacci, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, and Elin Hilderbrand, among others. The writers allege that their registered copyrights have been blatantly and harmfully violated because of OpenAI’s problematic code of conduct. The case argues that generative AI models had extracted copyrighted information from their books because it was able to give a very precise summary of the book when prompted. The lawsuit also rests on a larger and ongoing concern which has the entire media industry up in arms and that is that this kind of technology is replacing the creative arts authored by humans.
What is systematic theft?
According to Forbes, engaging in systematic theft is one of the most anti-competitive and monopolistic practices a company can adopt. This approach grants an insurmountable cost advantage by evading the standard costs associated with legitimately owned goods that law-abiding competitors must pay. It unfairly accelerates time-to-market by disregarding the legal requirement of obtaining permission from property owners before using their assets in the marketplace, a fundamental business practice that ethical competitors adhere to. It establishes and maintains an unmatched online catalogue and inventory advantage that no honest competitor could hope to replicate. Moreover, systematic theft detrimentally undermines business models based on property rights. Ultimately, systematic theft represents the pinnacle of predatory practices, as it unlawfully devalues any innovative or creative advantages that a competitor may possess. Forbes had written an extensive article on this back when Google was accused of systematic theft and they had to dispute the claim by stating that they do not steal, by any means. A confession as such in itself is telling where a tech company of that scale should never put itself in a position where it will be questioned about its ethics with regard to stealing intellectual property. Because there is no smoke without a fire.
What are the complaints that OpenAI is charged with?
OpenAI is not a first-time offender. Ever since its advent, it has found itself smack in the middle of all types of controversies. While OpenAI keeps repeating itself by saying that it believes in the rights of authors and that they also should equally benefit from technology, OpenAI’s actions prove otherwise.
The Authors Guild has brought the case to the federal court in Manhattan, New York. This lawsuit follows a similar legal action taken by comedian Sarah Silverman in July and an open letter signed by authors Margaret Atwood and Philip Pullman during the same month, in which they called on AI companies to compensate them for the use of their work.
As reported in BBC, a representative of OpenAI has responded to the issue by stating that they are actively engaged in constructive discussion with creators globally, including the Authors Guild. The fact that they are even compelled to make amends in the first place is indicative of the fact that they should have never even gotten tangled in a situation like this. OpenAI expresses optimism that they will find mutually beneficial ways to collaborate in the future, but the authors are disdained and want their rights to be protected.
Additionally, the rising concerns of the authors about AI-generated content have played a part in influencing Amazon.com to modify its e-book policies. They have implemented a new requirement for authors who intend to publish through its Kindle Direct Program: they must notify Amazon early on if their work contains AI-generated content. Amazon has also imposed an upper limit on authors where they can only publish a maximum of three new self-published books on Kindle Direct per day. A restriction was introduced to put a cap on the widespread availability of AI-generated texts on the platform.
The lawsuit that the Authors Guild filed is interpreted in many ways some say that the fear of losing their jobs is what is provoking the authors to act in this manner and some others say that this might be a strategy to make sure that the writers get their money. Irrespective of how it is read by different groups of people, the threat that AI is posing is very real where it has become a living representation of the meme that has the Grim Reaper knocking on everyone’s doors with a scythe in their hand.
(Sandunlekha Ekanayake)