OpenAI Claims Creating Tools Like ChatGPT Without Copyrighted Material Is ‘Impossible’

As the New York Times continues its lawsuit against OpenAI, the group behind ChatGPT, the AI firm recently stated tools like ChatGPT could not exist without the use of copyrighted material.

The Guardian reports the recent admission of OpenAI, the AI industry leader known for creating ChatGPT, has significantly changed the conversation around artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights.

OpenAI has openly recognized the need for copyrighted material in developing innovative AI tools such as ChatGPT. This admission comes at a time when the ethical and development aspects of AI are under scrutiny, especially as the New York Times launches a lawsuit against AI app makers over the use of its content in training data.

AI technologies, especially sophisticated models like ChatGPT, rely heavily on extensive datasets for their training. These datasets are comprised of internet-sourced content, much of which is predominantly protected by copyright laws.

OpenAI’s recent statement highlights the challenges that developers face when training Large Language Models (LLM’s) while adhering to existing copyright laws and may add weight to the NYT’s recent lawsuit.

OpenAI recently made a submission to the UK’s House of Lords communications and digital select committee, outlining the practical impossibility of developing large-scale AI models without copyrighted content.

“Because copyright today covers virtually every sort of human expression – including blogposts, photographs, forum posts, scraps of software code, and government documents – it would be impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials,” said OpenAI in its submission.

Commenting on the NYT lawsuit in a blog post, OpenAI said: “We support journalism, partner with news organisations, and believe the New York Times lawsuit is without merit.”

The NYT isn’t the first to use OpenAI for copyright infringement; in September, 17 authors, including John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, and George RR Martin, sued the company for “systematic theft on a mass scale” of their work.

Read more at The Guardian here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.