Staff Reports
The New York Times, a beacon of journalism, has taken on the tech giants Microsoft and OpenAI in a legal battle for the ages! It’s like David versus Goliath, but with lawyers instead of slingshots. The NYT claims that these AI wizards have been sneaking around, using the Times’ top-notch content to train their AI bots without asking for permission. How rude! It’s like borrowing your neighbor’s lawnmower without telling them, except with fancy algorithms and virtual brainpower. The audacity!
A.G. Sulzberger, the big cheese at the Times, is not backing down from this fight. No siree! The Times tried to make nice with Microsoft and OpenAI, but those big-shot tech titans turned up their noses at the offer. The nerve! So, Sulzberger slapped them with a lawsuit, seeking some serious moolah for damages and demanding that they stop using the Times’ stuff pronto. You go, Sulzberger! Stand up for the little guy – er, newspaper!
The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, a new front in the debate over the use of published work to train AI. https://t.co/u8qZ247dCl
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 27, 2023
The lawsuit hinges on this fancy term called “fair use.” The techies claim they can use whatever they find on the internet to train their AI thingamajigs. But the Times thinks they’ve gone too far, copying whole chunks of articles word for word. It’s like copying a spelling test from your friend – not cool, guys! The Times even pointed out specific instances where the AI bots mimicked its articles, like a 2019 report on shady lending in the Big Apple’s taxi biz. The nerve of those AI contraptions!
But that’s not all, folks! This isn’t just about the Times getting its feathers ruffled. Other authors are jumping on the bandwagon, claiming that their novels and writings have been gobbled up by these AI gizmos without so much as a “pretty please.” It’s like an episode of “AI’s Gone Wild”! Stephen King, Zadie Smith, and Michael Pollan are just a few of the big names saying, “Hey, hands off our stuff!” It’s a good old-fashioned showdown between the power of the pen and the prowess of AI. Giddy up, folks!
