Court Consolidates Copyright Lawsuits Against OpenAI, Microsoft

A U.S. judicial panel has consolidated multiple copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft in New York, despite opposition from most plaintiffs who argued their cases were too distinct. The lawsuits involve prominent authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates and news outlets such as The New York Times, accusing the tech companies of using copyrighted material without permission to train AI models like OpenAI's ChatGPT. The consolidation aims to streamline pretrial proceedings and avoid inconsistent rulings. OpenAI maintains its models are trained on publicly available data under the fair use doctrine, a key legal defense being tested in these cases. A recent study supports allegations of memorization of copyrighted content by AI models, highlighting the complexity of distinguishing fair use in AI training. U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein allowed the New York Times to pursue claims against OpenAI, furthering the ongoing legal discourse on AI and copyright laws.