In May 2020, Media and technology conglomerate Thomson Reuters sued a small legal AI startup called Ross Intelligence, alleging it violated US copyright law by reproducing content from Thomson Reuters' legal research platform Westlaw. As the pandemic spread, the lawsuit barely registered outside the small world of idiots obsessed with copyright rules. But it is now clear that the case, filed more than two years before the generative AI boom began, was a first strike in any field. huge war The dispute between content publishers and artificial intelligence companies is now playing out in courts across the country. The results could make, break, or reshape the information ecosystem and the entire AI industry – and in doing so, impact nearly everyone on the Internet.
Over the past two years, dozens of other copyright lawsuits have been filed against AI companies at a fast clipThe plaintiffs include individual writers such as Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi-Coats, visual artists, media companies such as The New York Times, and others. Music-industry giants Like Universal Music Group. A variety of rights holders are alleging that AI companies have used their work to train often highly engaging and powerful AI models in a way that amounts to theft. AI companies are often defending themselves by relying on so-called “Fair Use” DoctrineArguing that the creation of AI tools should be considered a situation where it is legal to use copyrighted material without obtaining consent or compensating rights holders. (Widely accepted examples of fair use include parody, news reporting, and academic research.) Nearly every major generative AI company has been pulled into this legal battle, including OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and Nvidia.
WIRED is keeping a close eye on how each of these lawsuits unfolds. We've created visualizations to help you track and contextualize which companies and rights holders are involved, where cases have been filed, what charges they're facing, and everything else you need to know.
That first case, Thomson Reuters vs. Ross IntelligenceStill winding its way through the court system. A lawsuit that was originally scheduled for earlier this year has been delayed indefinitely, and even though the costs of the litigation have already put Ross out of business, it's unclear when it will end. Will end. Other cases, such as the closely watched lawsuit filed by The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, are currently ongoing controversial search periodDuring which both sides are debating what information they need to hand over.