The Center for Investigative Journalism’s lawsuit came after The New York Times and other newspapers made similar claims.
OpenAI and its main sponsor, Microsoft, are being sued in the United States by another media outlet for alleged copyright infringement.
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), which publishes Mother Jones and Reveal, said Thursday it had filed a lawsuit against the tech companies, calling them “a denunciation of artificial intelligence and its exploitative practices” for using its content without permission.
“OpenAI and Microsoft began vacuuming up our story to make their products more powerful, but unlike other organizations that license our material, they never asked for permission or offered compensation.” Monika Bauerlein, CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting, said in her statement.
“This free-riding is not only unfair, it’s a copyright violation. The work of journalists at CIR and everywhere else is valuable, and OpenAI and Microsoft know it.”
OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, seeks damages and a court order compelling OpenAI and Microsoft to remove copyrighted material from their training datasets.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot uses vast amounts of information gathered from the Internet, including news sites, to answer users’ questions.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, follows similar lawsuits filed against the two companies by media outlets including The New York Times, The Intercept, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune and The Denver Post.
Prominent authors including Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, and George R.R. Martin have also sued OpenAI, claiming it used their work without permission or compensation.
The emergence of ChatGPT led to backlash from the media industry, but some media outlets, including the Financial Times, News Corp, Politico, and Le Monde, signed contracts with OpenAI to share content and cooperate in artificial intelligence (AI) development.
TIME on Thursday became the latest news organization to partner with the makers of ChatGPT, announcing a multi-year deal that will provide access to 100 years of archives.
“Throughout our 101-year history, TIME has embraced innovation to ensure our delivery of trusted journalism evolves alongside technology,” TIME CEO Mark Howard said in a statement.
“This partnership with OpenAI advances our mission to expand access to trusted information globally while continuing to embrace innovative new ways to bring TIME’s journalism to a global audience.”
