Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, and 14 other authors filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against ChatGPT developer OpenAI on Tuesday, accusing the program of “systematic theft on a mass scale.”
According to the Associated Press, the lawsuit claims there have been “flagrant and harmful infringements of plaintiffs’ registered copyrights,” such as ChatGPT generating an “infringing, unauthorized, and detailed outline for a prequel” to the 1996 novel A Game of Thrones. Titled A Dawn of Direwolves, the program produced a prequel featuring characters from Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire.
“It is imperative that we stop this theft in its tracks or we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the U.S.,” stated Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild, which organized the suit.
The lawsuit comes as the writers’ strike in Hollywood marches toward the five-month mark. One of the major points of contention between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is the use of artificial intelligence. The AMPTP initially rejected a proposal from the WGA that AI not be used to “write or rewrite literary material” and “can’t be used as source material.”
As the two sides continue to work towards a resolution, as reported by CNBC, it appears the AMPTP has made a few concessions on the issue of artificial intelligence, but remains steadfast in reserving the right to use the program in some capacity down the road.
“Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts,” Rasenberger continued. “To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”
Another group of writers filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI in San Francisco earlier this month, claiming their works were used to train the program, which would then be used in its own generated material.
“We’re having productive conversations with many creators around the world, including the Authors Guild, and have been working cooperatively to understand and discuss their concerns about AI,” a spokesperson for OpenAI said in response to the lawsuit. “We’re optimistic we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to help people utilize new technology in a rich content ecosystem.”
