Former OpenAI researcher alleges company violated copyright law in AI training
Former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji has alleged that OpenAI violated copyright law by using copyrighted data without permission to train ChatGPT. Balaji left the company in August 2024 and claims the technology damages the internet, joining other individuals and organizations that have sued AI companies over unlicensed use of copyrighted material.
What happened
Suchir Balaji, a former AI researcher at OpenAI, spent nearly four years at the company helping gather and organize internet data used to build ChatGPT. After the chatbot's release in late 2022, he concluded that OpenAI's use of copyrighted data violated the law and that the technology was damaging the internet.
In August 2024, Balaji left OpenAI, stating he no longer wanted to contribute to technologies he believed would cause societal harm. He is among the first employees to leave a major AI company and speak out publicly against the use of copyrighted data in AI training.
Reported impact
Balaji believes the technologies like ChatGPT are damaging the internet, though the facts do not specify particular harms beyond this characterization.
Index analysis
Over the past two years, a number of individuals and businesses have sued various AI companies, including OpenAI, arguing they illegally used copyrighted material to train their technologies. Those who have filed suits include computer programmers, artists, record labels, book authors and news organizations.
In December 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming they used millions of articles to build chatbots that compete with the news outlet. Both companies denied the claims.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.