Sarah Silverman And Other Authors Allege OpenAI, Meta Wield AI Tech To Steal Info

OpenAI's ChatGPT is no laughing matter, according to comedian Sarah Silverman. 

What Happened: Silverman is among a trio of authors suing the open-source artificial intelligence (AI) platform, as well as Meta Platforms Inc. META, in a U.S. District Court over claims of copyright infringement.

ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA allegedly stole information from the book "The Bedwetter," which Silverman released in 2010.

See Also: ChatGPT's Website Sees A Dip In Visitors - Is The World Already Tired Of Chatting With AI?

“The books aggregated by these websites have also been available in bulk via torrent systems,” one suit claims, citing Bibliotik, Library Genesis and Z-Library.

"These flagrantly illegal shadow libraries have long been of interest to the AI-training community,” one suit states, adding that ChatGPT can produce a derivative version of an author's book, despite it being copyrighted material.

“If a user prompts ChatGPT to summarize a copyrighted book, it will do so” without author permission, the suit claims.

Why It Matters: Silverman isn't the only author taking issue with OpenAI.

Authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey are also alleging copyright infringement.

The lawsuit comes amid mounting scrutiny — from business leaders, policymakers, writers and even actors — over the ever-advancing technology that's at the heart of AI.

AI platforms are receiving huge amounts of financial backing. OpenAI, for example, enjoyed a $13 billion investment from Microsoft Corporation MSFT. This gave the company a massive advantage in the development of complex models.

Last month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman commented that the startup's algorithm learns with “no tricks” and that he is aware of potential risks associated with exponential advancements in AI. Current AI systems, like GPT-4, pose no existential risk, Altman insists.

"It's totally cool that ChatGPT can write that poem," he said, while touting a "future system" that can cure disease, address climate change and improve education.

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