Giving OpenAI and Microsoft a break from getting sued again and again by authors and Elon Musk, it’s now Nvidia’s turn.
Three authors alleging copyright infringement against the world’s most successful AI chip designer.
Brian Keene, Abdi Nazemian, and Stewart O’Nan have filed a lawsuit claiming that the company unlawfully used their copyrighted books to train its NeMo AI platform without permission.
NVIDIA NeMo is a system for making and using AI models. It helps businesses create, adjust, and use AI models quickly and cheaply.
The authors assert that Nvidia incorporated their works into a dataset of approximately 196,640 volumes used to train NeMo in simulating written language.
Despite Nvidia’s takedown of the dataset in response to reported copyright infringement in October, the authors maintain that the admission of using their works constitutes copyright infringement, reported Reuters.
Finding NeMo, a defense strategy
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, seeks unspecified damages on behalf of US writers whose copyrighted materials were utilized over the past three years to train NeMo’s language models.
The complaint specifically cites works such as “Ghost Walk” by Keene, “Like a Love Story” by Nazemian, and “Last Night at the Lobster” by O’Nan.
This legal action adds Nvidia to the list of companies facing scrutiny over the use of generative AI technology.
Judges looking into these cases are unsure if AI-generated content can be copyrighted. But they haven’t decided if AI companies are breaking the law by using internet data to train their systems.
Tech companies worry lawsuits could hurt AI growth. Plaintiffs think companies should pay for using their work without asking.
Similar lawsuits filed previously
This legal battle follows similar disputes in the tech industry, including lawsuits involving OpenAI and Microsoft.
Last year, The New York Times initiated legal action against both companies, alleging the use of its published works to train AI models.
The lawsuit claimed that millions of articles published by The Times were used without permission to train automated chatbots.
The Times sought substantial damages and the destruction of any AI models and training data incorporating its copyrighted material.
Moreover, OpenAI and Meta faced lawsuits from writer-comedian Sarah Silverman, Richard Kadrey, and Christopher Golden for alleged copyright infringement.
These lawsuits accused the companies of illegally acquiring the writers’ works from shadow libraries and using them to train LLMs.
NeMo, celebrated for its speed and affordability in adopting generative AI, has garnered attention from creators and litigators alike. The lawsuit underscores the increasing legal complexities surrounding AI technology and intellectual property rights.
The lawsuits underscore technology companies’ challenges in navigating intellectual property laws while advancing AI research and development.
As AI continues to evolve, legal battles over copyright infringement will likely become increasingly prevalent, shaping the future landscape of AI ethics and regulation.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Sejal Sharma Sejal is a Delhi-based journalist, currently dedicated to reporting on technology and culture. She is particularly enthusiastic about covering artificial intelligence, the semiconductor industry and helping people understand the powers and pitfalls of technology. Outside of work, she likes to play badminton and spend time with her dogs. Feel free to email her for pitches or feedback on her work.
