OpenAI copyright infringement lawsuit: Are generated works inherently infringing?

Considering the importance of the training dataset to ChatGPT’s output, can its works be considered original? Although originality has been a requirement for copyright protection across all jurisdictions, there are varied definitions and thresholds for what constitutes an original work.

- RISHABH RAO

Last week, two US-based authors brought a class action suit against OpenAI for copyright infringement of their works which, among thousands of other works, were used to train the large language model (“LLM”) behind the generative artificial intelligence (“GAI”) - ChatGPT. The essence of the claim in this suit is that the plaintiffs and other class members did not consent to the use of their books/ works as training material for ChatGPT and that OpenAI is unjustly profiting from the use of their copyrighted works. In this article, the first section looks at how GAI models are ‘trained’ using input data, which is followed by an analysis of the arguments made against OpenAI in the lawsuit to answer the question of whether works created by GAIs like ChatGPT can be ‘original’ or if they are inherently infringing on copyrighted works of others.

UNDERSTANDING GAI

The key driver of  rapid advancement of AI technology today is machine learning. It is based on the idea that computers may learn, through pattern recognition, without being programmed to carry out particular tasks. Machine learning is “a subset of artificial intelligence that produces autonomous systems that are capable of learning without being specifically programmed by a human.”