Ziff Davis, a digital media publisher, has initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI, accusing the Microsoft-backed AI company of copyright infringement.
The plaintiffs include Ziff Davis, Inc., Ziff Davis, LLC, IGN Entertainment, Inc. and Everyday Health Media, LLC.
The defendants named are several OpenAI entities including OpenAI, Inc. and OpenAI GP, LLC.
Filed in Delaware federal court, the lawsuit alleges OpenAI unlawfully used Ziff Davis’ publications to develop the technology behind the chatbot ChatGPT.
Ziff Davis states that it produces nearly two million articles and updates annually, including thousands of product reviews.
As per the filing, OpenAI used this content to train and operate its large language models (LLMs), including its GPT series.
According to the legal documents, Ziff Davis claims that OpenAI has “intentionally and relentlessly reproduced exact copies and created derivatives of ZiffDavis Works without Ziff Davis’s authorisation” to develop and operate its LLM software and LLM-based products and services.
Ziff Davis’ complaint reads: “OpenAI seeks to move fast and break things on the assumption that the federal courts will not be able to effectively redress content owners’ sometimes existential concerns before it is too late.”
An OpenAI spokesperson, according to Reuters, said in a statement that its AI models “empower innovation, and are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use”.
Ziff Davis has more than 45 portfolio media brands. Its publications and editorial sites include BabyCenter, CNET, Everyday Health, IGN, Lifehacker, Mashable, PCMag and ZDNET.
This case joins a series of copyright disputes involving news outlets, authors and artists against technology companies, including OpenAI, for allegedly training their genAI systems with copyrighted works without proper authorisation.
Earlier in the year, a similar lawsuit was filed in New Delhi by Indian book publishers and their international counterparts against OpenAI.
The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of improperly using proprietary content for ChatGPT.
