Thousands of authors demand payment from AI companies for use of copyrighted works.

  • 2023-08-02 08:00:00
  • CNN

In an open letter signed and published Tuesday, July 15, by the Authors Guild, the organization's writers accused AI companies of unfairly profiting from the work of copyright-protected authors. Prominent figures stand out within the list of participants, including Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown and James Patterson.

As now confirmed, AI models are trained through databases containing everything from images to articles, novels and essays. Authors Guild members pointed out how companies spend billions of dollars to develop AI technology, without ever compensating original authors.

Will we ever see developments dedicated to respecting the works of others in AI?  At an event last May, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted that more needs to be done to address creators' concerns about how these systems use the creativity of others.