Nvidia Faces Copyright Lawsuit for Allegedly Using Books to Train AI Platform

Nvidia is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit, adding to the list of AI companies under scrutiny for their data practices. Three notable authors—Brian Keene, known for "Ghost Walk," Abdi Nazemian, who wrote "Like a Love Story," and Stewart O'Nan, author of "Late Night at the Lobster"—have filed a legal complaint against the tech giant. They claim that their literary works were utilized without permission in the training of Nvidia's NeMo platform.

The lawsuit highlights that Nvidia removed these authors’ works from the NeMo data in October, which the plaintiffs interpret as an admission of unauthorized use. Unlike previous copyright lawsuits that typically target specific AI models, this case centers on NeMo itself, a development platform launched in September 2022 that enables developers to customize foundation models for various AI applications.

The class-action suit seeks damages for U.S. authors whose copyrighted material was allegedly used to train large language models (LLMs) within the NeMo framework. Nvidia has responded to the allegations, asserting that it respects content creators' rights and believes its NeMo platform operates within the bounds of copyright law.

This lawsuit is part of a growing wave of legal actions against AI companies. For instance, OpenAI has encountered a lawsuit from The New York Times, with the company countering that the newspaper "hacked" ChatGPT to gather evidence for its case. Additionally, authors and music publishers have initiated similar lawsuits against various large language model developers, emphasizing widespread concerns over copyright infringement in the AI industry.

Recent research from the AI startup Patronus indicated that OpenAI’s GPT-4 exhibited notable levels of reproduced copyrighted content, underscoring the ongoing challenges faced by developers as they navigate the complex landscape of intellectual property rights in the evolving AI sector.