The BBC is pursuing legal action against Perplexity AI, a US-based chatbot company, for unauthorized verbatim reproduction of BBC content, constituting copyright infringement and breach of terms of use. This action, the first of its kind for the BBC, stems from Perplexity’s alleged disregard for BBC’s “robots.txt” directives and follows earlier BBC research revealing inaccuracies and misrepresentations of BBC news in several popular AI chatbots, including Perplexity AI. The BBC’s legal letter demands Perplexity cease using BBC content, delete existing material, and provide financial compensation. The Professional Publishers Association also expressed deep concern regarding the broader issue of AI platforms’ copyright infringements.
Read More
Disney and NBCUniversal filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, alleging copyright infringement by its AI image generator. The suit claims Midjourney’s service creates unauthorized copies of copyrighted characters like Darth Vader and Minions, functioning as a “virtual vending machine” for pirated images. The studios seek unspecified damages, an accounting of profits, and an injunction to stop the infringement, arguing that Midjourney’s actions constitute blatant copyright infringement and that readily available technological solutions could prevent this. This is a significant legal challenge to an AI company’s practices, highlighting the ongoing debate about the use of copyrighted material in AI training and image generation.
Read More
Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter was fired from her position after the Copyright Office released a report expressing concerns about AI’s use of copyrighted material. This followed the firing of the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. Rep. Joe Morelle criticized the firing as an unlawful power grab, suggesting it was related to Perlmutter’s refusal to endorse Elon Musk’s plans to utilize copyrighted works for AI training. Perlmutter’s dismissal comes amidst President Trump’s strong support for AI development and initiatives.
Read More
Newly unsealed emails in the *Kadrey v. Meta Platforms, Inc.* lawsuit reveal Meta employees knowingly downloaded at least 81.7 TB of copyrighted books via torrents, despite internal concerns about legal ramifications. These downloads, including at least 35.7 TB from sites like Z-Library, were conducted using methods designed to obscure Meta’s involvement. Meta has moved to dismiss the charges, denying any wrongdoing. This case highlights a broader trend of large AI companies utilizing copyrighted material to train their models, raising significant copyright infringement concerns and normalizing potentially illegal practices.
Read More
Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former OpenAI researcher, was found deceased in his San Francisco apartment; the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death a suicide. Prior to his death, Balaji publicly voiced concerns about OpenAI’s alleged copyright violations in developing ChatGPT, believing the technology threatened creators’ livelihoods. His death follows ongoing legal battles against OpenAI regarding the use of copyrighted material in training AI models. OpenAI has expressed its condolences.
Read More
John Q. Hosedrinker