New York Times reporter sues Meta, Anthropic, Google and other companies for AI training

John Carreyrou, a reporter for the New York Times renowned for his investigative work on the Theranos scandal, has initiated a lawsuit against several prominent tech firms and AI startups, including Google, Anthropic, Meta Platforms, and xAI. The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, claims that these companies have improperly utilized copyrighted materials to train their artificial intelligence models. In a move that highlights growing concerns over intellectual property rights in AI development, Carreyrou, along with five other writers, argues that companies operating large language models (LLMs) should not be allowed to diminish the value of numerous copyright claims at minimal costs. Notably, this case marks the first time Elon Musk’s AI venture, xAI, faces formal allegations regarding copyright infringement. Instead of pursuing a collective class-action lawsuit, the writers have opted to file their claims individually. This strategy could facilitate negotiations with the defendants, potentially leading to quicker resolutions. Previously, Anthropic reached a significant settlement in a copyright lawsuit, agreeing to pay $1.5 billion to a group of authors who accused the company of using millions of copyrighted texts without authorization. However, the authors reportedly received only a small fraction—merely 2%—of the statutory damages potentially available under the Copyright Act. Carreyrou has been particularly vocal about the inadequacies of the settlement with Anthropic, labeling it an 'original sin' and suggesting that the penalties imposed were not severe enough. As the legal proceedings unfold, the outcome may not only impact the involved parties but could also set precedents for future regulations in the AI sector.