Sarah Silverman Lawsuit Against OpenAI Suffers Setback As Judge Trims Case

Sarah Silverman Lawsuit Against OpenAI Suffers Setback As Judge Trims Case

As a passionate bookworm and a long-time follower of the literary world, I find myself deeply invested in this ongoing legal saga between top authors and OpenAI. It’s fascinating to witness the intricate dance between innovation and intellectual property rights, a ballet as old as time itself.


In a setback for leading authors who are taking legal action against OpenAI for utilizing their novels to educate an AI chatbot, a federal judge has limited the extent of their lawsuit.

On Tuesday evening, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín discarded a charge alleging that the company led by Sam Altman had engaged in unjust business practices by employing authors’ works, such as those of Sarah Silverman, Paul Tremblay, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, without their approval or payment, to run its AI system.

The writers’ primary claim for direct copyright infringement was left untouched.

In February, the court discarded claims related to negligence, unfair gain, and vicarious copyright violation. However, it refused to drop the claim based on unfair competition law. The lawyers representing the authors amended this specific claim following legal actions initiated by Silverman, Tremblay, and Michael Chabon – individuals who initially filed their own class actions. OpenAI took advantage of these changes to attempt dismissal once more, an action that was contested by the plaintiffs.

In the sequence of events, Martínez-Olguín determined not only that the company could validly discard the claim, but also that the Copyright Act prohibits it. She explained that the law explicitly overrides state laws concerning copyrighted works.

The writers contested the unauthorized use of their works for training ChatGPT, a practice they considered unfair. However, because the potentially violated materials were copyrighted literature, they couldn’t file a state-level lawsuit. Instead, the court determined that this issue falls under the jurisdiction of copyright law.

In summary, Martinez-Olguin stated that the allegation made by UCL (University College London) regarding the copying of Plaintiffs’ infringed works is clearly within the scope of the Copyright Act. He also mentioned that any attempt to modify this claim would be pointless.

In a growing legal conflict marked by rising tension, OpenAI confronts various issues as different entities such as trade organizations, artists, and publishing houses challenge the company’s use of published works to develop its chatbot that mimics human interaction. These parties have even filed lawsuits against the company.

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2024-07-31 21:54