Sam Altman says New York Times is ‘on the wrong side of history’ following AI lawsuit
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticized the New York Times’ high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI while speaking at the New York Times DealBook conference.
Altman discussed everything artificial intelligenceincluding the future of artificial general intelligence, during a speech on December 4. He also spoke about the New York Times’ ongoing work lawsuit against OpenAI. The New York Times made headlines last year as the first major media organization to sue OpenAI and its investor Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging unauthorized use of its written content to train models AI from OpenAI. This legal battle has become a central part of a broader debate over how published works are used to develop AI technologies.
“I don’t believe in showing up at someone else’s house as a guest and being rude, but I will say that I think the New York Times is on the wrong side of history in many ways ” Altman said of the trial at the conference. .
The New York Times did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Fair payment for AI contracts
The New York Times has already leaked more than 1 million dollars in its legal battle with OpenAI.
The New York Times lawsuit does not set a specific amount, but seeks that OpenAI and Microsoft be held liable for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” for the alleged illegal use of its content. The lawsuit also calls for the destruction of all chatbot models and training data containing the publisher’s copyrighted material.
Altman agreed that there needs to be a better payment model for these deals between AI companies and publishers.
“We need a new agreement, a standard protocol, whatever you want to call it, on how creators will be rewarded,” Altman said. He floated the idea of making “micropayments” to creators, which would allow users to generate AI content creator-style. The creator could choose to have their image and style used and receive compensation accordingly.
“The discussion about fair use or not is not at the right level,” Altman added. “But we need to find new economic models that allow creators to benefit from new sources of income.”
AI companies like OpenAI rely on large contemporary data sets, including articles, books, and other online texts, to train their models. OpenAI is rated at $157 billionaccording to the New York Times report. The ChatGPT creator also has deals with major media outlets like Axel Springer, Conde Nast, and Vox Media.
Tangled with Musk
OpenAI is also facing heat from X boss Elon Musk. Musk is a co-founder of OpenAI and has his own startup called xAI which competes with OpenAI.
In November, Musk’s legal team filed a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, several of its co-founders and its investor Microsoft. The move aims to stop what Musk’s lawyers say is anticompetitive behavior and prevent OpenAI from moving to a for-profit model.
The anti-competitive allegations allege that OpenAI and Microsoft told investors not to fund their competitors. Musk’s lawyers say this claim violates the Sherman Act. They also allege that Musk confirmed that at least one major investor, who had previously backed an xAI funding round, had since pulled out of further investments.
At the DealBook conference, Altman said OpenAI told investors that if they invested in competitors, they would lose their information rights to OpenAI’s product roadmap.
“We are terminating your rights to information,” Altman said. “And everyone says, ‘That sounds reasonable.'”
