OpenAI, Google, other AI companies under pressure as thousands of authors demand payment for work
CNN, around 8,000 authors from across the world have written an open letter to CEOs of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Facebook-parent Meta, Google, Stability AI, IBM, and Microsoft accusing the AI companies of earning profits from their work. The open letter posted by the Authors Guild was signed by some of the most acclaimed writers including Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, James Patterson, Jodi Picoult, and Philip Pullman.
“Millions of copyrighted books, articles, essays, and poetry provide the ‘food’ for AI systems, endless meals for which there has been no bill," the letter said. “You’re spending billions of dollars to develop AI technology.
It is only fair that you compensate us for using our writings, without which AI would be banal and extremely limited," it added. Apart from the compensation for the work the AI companies have used, the authors are demanding that such companies should seek permission through appropriate channels before using their work again.
The authors are asking the generative AI companies to pay whenever their work features in the responses of the AI tool “whether or not the outputs are infringing under current law." “The high commerciality of your use argues against fair use," the authors wrote to the AI companies. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has acknowledged the concerns of authors and said that he understands that more needs to be done as AI platforms use their work.
“We’re trying to work on new models where if an AI system is using your content, or if it’s using your style, you get paid for that," he said at an event.
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