Unit 4 Current Events Discussion

OpenAI is seeking to dismiss parts of the New York Times lawsuit claiming copyright infringement. OpenAI argues that their language model, Chad GPT, does not copy information but generates its own answers using public information. They cite legal precedents that allow the use of copyrighted content to create new products. OpenAI developers say it's impossible to create this technology without copyrighted material. The case is still pending, and it's uncertain what will happen. The textbook has examples of platforms accused of copyright infringement, like Metallica suing Napster in 2000, resulting in Napster being shut down. Hello. For this post, I would like to talk about an article by the New York Times titled OpenAI Seeks to Dismiss Parts of the New York Times Lawsuit. On December 27th of 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement. The plaintiff claims that some of the information contained in the databases used to train and program Chad GPT are copyrighted and belong to the New York Times. However, on February 27th of this year, OpenAI filed a motion to dismiss a federal court claiming that Chad GPT cannot show New York Times articles at will and it is also not intended to replace it. OpenAI also claimed that Chad GPT doesn't copy information. It simply uses public information to generate its own answers. In the filed motion to dismiss, OpenAI's lawyers cited legal precedents that allow for the use of copyrighted content to create new, different, and innovative products. The lawyers also argued that no one, not even the New York Times, can monopolize facts or the rules of language. In another article by The Guardian, the developers of OpenAI stated that it is impossible to generate this sort of technology without copyrighted material because copyrighted material covers virtually every sort of human expression, including blog posts, photographs, forum posts, scraps of software code, and government documents. Currently, this case is still pending, meaning that the defendant party has not been ratified or found financially liable. It is a bit uncertain what is going to happen in this case because of how new this technology is. However, there are parts of our textbook that can help us better understand the legal aspects of copyright and the textbook also provides examples of platforms that have been accused of infringing digital copyrights. Our textbook states that core systems in both the United States and Europe have used copyright law to give intellectual property protection to computer software. Downloading or copying most copyrighted computer files, such as books and music, violates the property rights of the owner. The textbook provides the example of Metallica suing Napster in the year 2000 for digital copyright infringement. The textbook also provides an example of what could happen in this OpenAI lawsuit. In the year 2000, Metallica sued Napster for uploading their music without their consent to their platform, which ultimately ended in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals shutting down Napster.