A recent lawsuit filed in a New York federal court has thrown Microsoft into the ongoing legal battle between OpenAI and authors over the use of copyrighted material in the development of artificial intelligence models, specifically OpenAI’s GPT-based products. The suit, brought forward by author Julian Sancton, whose work contributed to the training of OpenAI’s models, highlights Microsoft’s deep involvement in the creation of ChatGPT and the alleged misuse of copyrighted material.

Sancton’s lawsuit sheds light on the partnership between OpenAI, a company valued at close to $90 billion, and Microsoft, a collaboration that has firmly established Microsoft as a leader in generative AI. It accuses Microsoft of providing critical assistance in creating unlicensed copies of authors’ works for use as training data, as well as its awareness of OpenAI’s indiscriminate web crawling for copyrighted material.

Read: More authors sue OpenAI and Meta over copyright due to training

It is one of several suits that have been brought by groups of copyright owners, including authors John Grisham, George R.R. Martin and Jonathan Franzen, against OpenAI and other tech companies over the alleged misuse of their work to train AI systems. The companies have denied the claims.

Authors’ claims of copyright infringement

However, Sancton’s focus is on nonfiction and academic journals, and he argues that Microsoft played a significant role in the training, development, and commercialisation of OpenAI’s GPT-based products. One of the central points in the lawsuit is Microsoft’s provision of a specialised computing system, powered by Microsoft Azure, to facilitate the training process of OpenAI’s models.

According to the lawsuit, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, acknowledged the company’s integral role in a February interview, stating, “the heavy lifting was done by the Azure team to build the compute infrastructure.” Sancton’s legal team contends that this statement implies Microsoft’s active involvement in developing and supporting OpenAI’s supercomputing system, which facilitated the alleged copyright infringement.

Implications for AI and copyright law

Unlike previous AI copyright cases, this lawsuit directly accuses the companies of making tens of thousands of unlicensed copies of copyrighted works for the purpose of training their AI system. It challenges the argument that AI training merely involves parameter development, highlighting potential evidence from ChatGPT responses confirming the incorporation of copyrighted material into training data.

The lawsuit also points out that Microsoft’s involvement extended beyond product development, as the company actively participated in the commercialisation of GPT-based technology. For instance, Microsoft introduced Bing Chat, an AI chatbot integrated with its search engine, while OpenAI integrated ChatGPT with a “Browse with Bing” feature. The close relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft became even more apparent when Microsoft hired Sam Altman, the former CEO of OpenAI, who is now reportedly returning to the beleaguered company after the board was fired.

Read: US judge dismisses parts of AI copyright lawsuit against Meta

Sancton’s arguments centre around the alleged “manifestly unfair use” of his work, suggesting that users may choose to explore ChatGPT’s content rather than purchasing his book, thereby depriving authors of potential licensing agreements. The lawsuit draws parallels with the recent Supreme Court decision in Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts v. Goldsmith, which emphasised the need to balance the transformation of copyrighted material against the commercial nature of its use.

As of now, Microsoft has not issued an official response to the lawsuit but recently announced plans to defend customers facing copyright infringement claims related to the use of Azure OpenAI Service. Sancton expressed his concerns, stating, “It is concerning for anyone who writes for a living to see our work be used without permission or compensation to build large language models that capitalize on our expression for profit.”

In a related case, a federal judge recently dismissed a significant portion of Sarah Silverman‘s suit against Meta on Monday, highlighting the complex legal landscape surrounding AI and copyright infringement. The outcome of Sancton’s lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI may have far-reaching implications for the AI industry’s use of copyrighted material and the protection of authors’ rights.

Sancton v. Microsoft by THR