ISLAMABAD: American author George R.R. Martin, known for the fantasy novel ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ which inspired the HBO series ‘Game of Thrones,’ is one of 17 writers suing ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
Earlier this week, 17 blockbuster authors, including George R.R. Martin, David Baldacci, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, and Jodi Picoult, among others, initiated a lawsuit in the federal court of Manhattan, New York, against the AI generative company.
In the lawsuit, the Authors Guild alleged that Microsoft-backed OpenAI engaged in ‘systemic theft on a mass scale’ by using their copyrighted content without permission to train its AI models, including ChatGPT.
For those unfamiliar, ChatGPT and similar large language models, such as Google Bard, learn by analyzing a vast amount of data typically sourced from online platforms.
Authors vs. AI: Lawsuit Over Content Generation
Regarding ChatGPT’s actions involving authors, the lawsuit contended that the program generated an ‘infringing, unauthorized, and detailed outline’ for a ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel titled ‘A Dawn of Direwolves’ and even incorporated existing characters from Martin’s successful book series, ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’
In a statement, the Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger emphasized, “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 US.”
She further stated, “Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI.”
However, the company’s spokesperson defended that it respects ‘the rights of writers and authors’ and believes in the mutual benefits of AI (artificial intelligence) technology. The statement from the company read, “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.”
CEO Sam Altman also added, “OpenAI does not want to replace creators.”
