The legal showdown is intensifying between The New York Times and OpenAI. The tech firm has thrown serious accusations at the newspaper, claiming it “hacked” into its AI products to fabricate evidence for a lawsuit about copyright issues.
OpenAI insists that the Times resorted to tactics, breaking the firm’s usage rules to mimic its own content. According to OpenAI, “It took them tens of thousands of attempts to generate the highly anomalous results.”
The New York Times initially filed the lawsuit against OpenAI and its investor Microsoft in December, alleging that they used the newspaper’s content without permission to train their AI, ChatGPT.
This, the Times argues, constitutes copyright infringement as it used their articles to make the chatbot more intelligent and competitive.
OpenAI’s Response To The Lawsuit
OpenAI is striking back, requesting a federal judge to dismiss parts of The New York Times’ lawsuit. The AI startup alleges that the newspaper engaged in unethical practices by paying someone to breach OpenAI’s platforms.
“The truth, which will come out in the course of this case, is that the Times paid someone to hack OpenAI’s products,” OpenAI’s lawyers stated in the court filing. The company’s attorneys argue that the Times’ actions were far from its “famously rigorous journalistic standards.”
They assert that the newspaper manipulated the system to produce misleading evidence against OpenAI, exploiting a bug and using deceptive prompts that breached the AI firm’s usage terms. OpenAI emphasizes that normal usage of its products does not lead to the issues claimed by the Times.
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Backstory Of The Case
In case you missed the full story, the whole saga started when The New York Times took a stand against OpenAI and Microsoft, setting off alarms in the bustling world of media and artificial intelligence. The Times accused the two of using its articles to train their chatbots, which, according to them, was a clear case of copyright infringement.
They were talking about “billions of dollars” due to the misuse of their content. Despite trying to sort things out since April, with talks of a friendly settlement, nothing came to fruition.
It was bold, really, with The Times being the first major player in American media to throw such a major legal case. Their argument was simple: their hard work and journalistic gold were being used to train the chatbots that were now elbowing in on their territory of reliable information.
What Was OpenAI’s Counter?
OpenAI seemed genuinely taken aback by the lawsuit. They thought things were going smoothly in their chats with The Times, aiming to find a middle ground where both could benefit from the AI revolution.
OpenAI stood firm, stating the lawsuit lacked substance. They argued that The Times might have twisted the scenario, making the AI spit out bits of their articles. According to them, it was a rare occurrence, possibly cherry-picked after countless trials.
