Bytes And Rights: AI In The Crosshairs Of IP

Introduction

Generative Artificial Intelligence ("GAI") has revolutionized the way we create and interact with content. From creating realistic images and videos to generating complex text outputs, GAI models have transformed almost all sectors. With its growing prominence, it has, of late, also sparked debates on underlying legal, ethical, and regulatory concerns across the globe.

The class action lawsuit filed by New York Times against OpenAI LLC ("OpenAI") and Microsoft Corporation in December 2023 highlighted concerns over unpermitted use of its published articles by these GAI companies, to train their large language models ("LLM").¹ The New York Times expressed concerns regarding these LLMs generating near-verbatim reproductions and more expressive content basis their works, resulting in possible financial loss to it. Earlier in 2024, the copyright infringement lawsuits filed by Michael Chabon,² Paul Tremblay,³ and Sarah Silverman⁴ against OpenAI, alleging