Ezza Ijaz

Nov 9, 2024

OpenAI has been in the news since its inception of ChatGPT and has been actively evolving its technology, developing new models, and working aggressively to bring AGI forward. While the company's progression is widely praised, it had to face some legal pressure for misusing articles from news outlets to train its large language models. However, the artificial intelligence giant has been able to dodge the lawsuit for now as a federal judge in New York has dismissed the case.

A federal judge has dismissed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI for failing to present enough evidence

OpenAI found itself to be under legal complications as news outlets Raw Story and AlterNet accused the company of misusing articles from their channels to train their large language models. In the legal pursuit it was claimed that OpenAI used the content without consent and was in violation of copyright laws.

However, as per a Reuters report, things seem to favor the company for now, as a New York federal judge dismissed the lawsuit on Thursday due to a lack of evidence to support the claim. The U.S. District Judge, Colleen McMohan, dismissed the lawsuit against OpenAI and suggested that the company did not cause noticeable harm that could back up the claim.

While the company dodged the case for now, Judge McMahon did open the option for the plaintiffs to file a new complaint but also went on to express doubt on a favorable response and shared skepticism over "cognizable injury." Both media outlets are, however, working on outing the case and addressing the concerns the court presented in a new, altered complaint.

An OpenAI spokesperson presented their side by claiming that they indulged in fair practices, which involved using publicly available data and legal precedents that are widely accepted to support AI model training practices. This is not the first time a lawsuit has been filed against the company, as the New York Times was the first media outlet to have legally pursued OpenAI back in December.

We are seeing an increasing number of lawsuits being filed against not just OpenAI but also other big tech companies for using the content of artists, YouTubers, and publishers without their consent to train their AI models. As AI progresses, we see massive improvements in how we interact and gain information, but it has also invited complications with the evolution of the technology.