Current:Home > NewsSarah Silverman sues OpenAI and Meta over copied memoir "The Bedwetter" -Wealth Pursuit Network
Sarah Silverman sues OpenAI and Meta over copied memoir "The Bedwetter"
View
Date:2025-04-18 22:01:36
Comedian and actor Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta, alleging that the technology companies developed artificial intelligence tools that freely copied her memoir, "The Bedwetter," without permission.
Silverman, an Emmy-winning performer and former cast member on "Saturday Night Live," is the latest content creator to file a lawsuit over so-called large language models (LLM), which underpin burgeoning "generative" AI apps such as ChatGPT. LLMs develop their functionality by "training" on vast amounts of written and other content, including material created by professional and amateur writers.
Silverman's lawyers say training AI by having it process others' intellectual property, including copyrighted material like books, amounts to "grift." In parallel complaints filed July 7 along with two other authors, Chris Golden and Richard Kadrey, Silverman accused OpenAI — which created ChatGPT — and Facebook owner Meta of copying her work "without consent, without credit and without compensation." The plaintiffs are seeking injunctions to stop OpenAI and Meta from using the authors' works, as well as monetary damages.
In exhibits accompanying the complaints, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ChatGPT is asked to summarize Silverman's memoir, as well as works by the other authors. It produces accurate summaries as well as passages lifted verbatim from the works, but doesn't include the copyright information that is customarily printed in these and other books — evidence that it was fed a complete copy of the work, according to the complaint.
OpenAI and Meta both trained their respective LLMs in part on "shadow libraries" — repositories of vast amounts of pirated books that are "flagrantly illegal," according to the plaintiffs' lawyers. Books provide a particularly valuable training material for generative AI tools because they "offer the best examples of high-quality longform writing," according to the complaint, citing internal research from OpenAI.
OpenAI and Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick, the attorneys representing the authors, in January also sued Stability AI on behalf of visual artists who accused the "parasite" app of glomming off their work. Last year the duo filed a lawsuit against GitHub, alleging its AI-assisted coding tool built on stolen coders' work.
The AI field is seeing a vast influx of money as investors position themselves for what's believed to be the next big thing in computing, but so far commercial applications of the technology has been hit or miss. Efforts to use generative AI to produce news articles have resulted in content riddled with basic errors and outright plagiarism. A lawyer using ChatGPT for court filings also was fined after the tool invented nonexistent cases to populate his briefs.
- In:
- Artificial Intelligence
- AI
- ChatGPT
veryGood! (43)
Related
- Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
- Colleen Ballinger's Team Sets the Record Straight on Blackface Allegations
- RHOC Star Gina Kirschenheiter’s CaraGala Skincare Line Is One You’ll Actually Use
- Save 45% On the Cult Favorite Philosophy 3-In-1 Shampoo, Shower Gel, and Bubble Bath
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- New Documents Unveiled in Congressional Hearings Show Oil Companies Are Slow-Rolling and Overselling Climate Initiatives, Democrats Say
- 2 more infants die using Boppy loungers after a product recall was issued in 2021
- These Secrets About Grease Are the Ones That You Want
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Mobile Homes, the Last Affordable Housing Option for Many California Residents, Are Going Up in Smoke
Ranking
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- 'Los Angeles Times' to lay off 13% of newsroom
- Experts issue a dire warning about AI and encourage limits be imposed
- Nearly 200 Countries Approve a Biodiversity Accord Enshrining Human Rights and the ‘Rights of Nature’
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- Extreme Heat Poses an Emerging Threat to Food Crops
- Chilean Voters Reject a New Constitution That Would Have Provided Groundbreaking Protections for the Rights of Nature
- YouTubers Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams Expecting Twins Via Surrogate
Recommendation
Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
See the First Photos of Tom Sandoval Filming Vanderpump Rules After Cheating Scandal
In California, a Race to Save the World’s Largest Trees From Megafires
Mobile Homes, the Last Affordable Housing Option for Many California Residents, Are Going Up in Smoke
Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
Inside Clean Energy: In Parched California, a Project Aims to Save Water and Produce Renewable Energy
Candace Cameron Bure Responds After Miss Benny Alleges Homophobia on Fuller House Set
Why Danielle Jonas Sometimes Feels Less Than Around Sisters-in-Law Priyanka Chopra and Sophie Turner