In the tranquil town of Grafton, Massachusetts, two octogenarian friends named Nick, both seasoned journalists and authors, have found themselves embroiled in a legal battle against the giants of artificial intelligence.
Nicholas Gage, 84, and Nicholas Basbanes, 81, have accused OpenAI and Microsoft of pilfering their copyrighted work to train AI chatbots, without their consent or compensation.
According to The New York Post, the two Nicks, as they are fondly known, have spent their lives dedicated to the pursuit of truth and the written word. Gage, whose tragic family history was immortalized in his bestselling memoir "Eleni," and Basbanes, a former newspaper reporter turned author, have both made significant contributions to the literary world. Their lawsuit, filed earlier this year, seeks to represent a class of writers who allege their work has been systematically misappropriated by OpenAI and Microsoft.
The two friends, while admiring the capabilities of AI chatbots, found them prone to falsehoods and a lack of attribution. "We worked too hard on these tomes," Basbanes lamented, echoing the sentiments of many writers who feel their hard work and intellectual property rights are being violated. Their lawsuit is now part of a broader case seeking class-action status, led by renowned authors such as John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, and George R. R. Martin.
The crux of the lawsuits is the allegation that OpenAI, with Microsoft's financial and computational backing, has ingested vast amounts of human writings to train AI chatbots to generate human-like text. "If they can get it for nothing, why pay for it?" Gage questioned, highlighting the unfairness of the situation. "But it's grossly unfair and very harmful to the written word."
OpenAI and Microsoft have yet to comment on the allegations but have been actively defending their actions in court. Mustafa Suleyman, the chief executive of Microsoft's AI division, defended the industry's practices at the Aspen Ideas Festival last month. He argued that training AI systems on content available on the open internet falls under the "fair use" doctrine of U.S. copyright laws.
However, the legal battles are far from over, with cases still in the discovery stage and expected to continue until 2025. In the interim, some professionals, fearing the threat posed by AI business practices, have sought private deals to license their archives to technology companies for a fee. Others, like Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group, are fighting back. "All of that is real work, and it's work that AI cannot do," Pine said, emphasizing the irreplaceable value of human effort and creativity in journalism.
The lawsuit filed by Gage and Basbanes has been consolidated with other similar cases brought by nonfiction and fiction writers represented by the Authors Guild. While they may not be witnesses in the upcoming trial, the two Nicks believe it is crucial to take a stand for the future of their craft.
Both Gage and Basbanes have had illustrious careers in journalism, with Gage renowned for his investigative reporting into organized crime and political corruption, and Basbanes for his in-depth books on literary culture. They have dedicated their lives to their craft, often at great personal risk and expense. Gage, for instance, quit his job at The New York Times and went into $160,000 debt to investigate his mother's death. "When you commit yourself to something as important as my mother's story was, the risks are tremendous, the effort is tremendous," he said.
The concern for Gage and Basbanes is not just about their work but the future of the written word. They fear that AI could make it harder for others to pursue investigative journalism and writing. "Publications are going to die. Newspapers are going to die. Young people with talent are not going to go into writing," Gage warned.
While the outcome of the lawsuit remains uncertain, the two Nicks are determined to fight for the rights of writers and the preservation of their craft.
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