OpenAI – the world’s largest and certainly the most media representative of the entire boom related to the development of AI. In just a few years, the company has gained a strong position, and Altman himself has become a leader for many people in fact the face of everything related to this technology. This is, of course, very ennobling and many people would like to be in this company’s position.
Unfortunately, such a position means not only fame, publicity and billions in subsequent rounds of financing for your projects. This is, of course, part of such activity, but there is also the other side of the coin. Mostly, they are lawsuits, controversies and attempts to explain away strange and suspicious behavior.
Something like this is now awaiting the company run by Altman. It turns out that now they will have to face very serious problems. We are talking about a lawsuit, and one that may significantly damage the situation of the American tycoon in the field of AI. 
Open AI in the crosshairs of Canadian media
As reported by The Verge, in the last days of November 2024, several large Canadian media companies filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. The document accused the company of “improperly and illegally using their journalism to support the ChatGTP model.” More specifically, of course, we are talking about regular violations of copyrights and terms of use of the Internet.
A statement from Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press and CBC/Radio-Canada, which filed the lawsuit against the company, said OpenAI downloads large amounts of content to develop its products, but without permission or the content owners. Additionally, it is done without any remuneration.
So what are the plaintiffs asking for? These five Canadian companies want OpenAI to be compensated and permanently banned from using their materials without consent. The company led by Sam Altman stated in response that all models were trained based on the principles of the so-called fair use. Additionally, it was linked to international rules on copyrights that are intended to protect the interests of each party.
Additionally, the company emphasized that it constantly cooperates with publishers and content creators and tries to adapt to their needs. It also includes easy ways to withdraw from cooperation if it is unsatisfactory for publishers.
A precedent in Open AI’s relations with media companies?
Canadian companies probably did not really believe such assurances, and what is very important: this is only part of the multitude of lawsuits that are filed against OpenAI and other companies that deal with AI training.
Very similar lawsuits were filed by eight American publishing houses owned by Alden Global Capital and several unaffiliated companies. They all accused companies developing artificial intelligence (but mainly OpenAI) of unlawful use of their content.
Depending on how this dispute ends, we may witness a serious reshuffle and set a precedent in media relations with companies training and creating AI models. So you can be sure that OpenAI “will not sell skin cheaply” and will want to win in court at all costs. Will they succeed? That’s another matter.
