Publishing groups ask US court to reject OpenAI fair use defense

Four publishing and copyright trade organisations have called on a United States court to reject OpenAI's fair use defense in a key copyright infringement case. The Bookseller and Publishers Weekly both reported that the organisations filed an amicus brief challenging the artificial intelligence company's legal arguments. [1][2]

The groups involved in the filing include the Association of American Publishers, the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers, the Independent Book Publishers Association, and Copyright Clearance Center. According to the Bookseller, these organisations argue that using copyrighted written works to train generative artificial intelligence models threatens the livelihoods of authors. [1]

The publishing groups also state that unauthorised training undermines established licensing markets and enables the creation of competing books. The legal dispute centers on whether training generative artificial intelligence models on copyrighted text constitutes fair use under United States law. Wikipedia describes fair use as a United States legal doctrine that permits the limited use of copyrighted material without obtaining prior permission from the copyright owner. [1][4]

OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence developer headquartered in San Francisco, California, that creates large language models. The outcome of the court case could affect how artificial intelligence developers license copyrighted books and written materials for training going forward. [1][5]