It’s easy to get lost in a sea of information when it comes to both the advances and lawsuits surrounding generative-AI.
This article would be impossibly long if it captured every event and suit, but the critical highlights are listed here and will be updated over time.
A short primer
What is generative-AI?
Gen-AI is a type of machine learning and artificial intelligence that uses prompts to generate images, text, videos, and audio.
What are the lawsuits about?
A fair number of gen-AI lawsuits allege copyright infringement—particularly in regard to text and images—while gen-AI companies claim their datasets fall under the fair use doctrine (https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107).
What’s at stake?
- Job stability
- Trillions of dollars
- Copyright and trademark protections
- Economic projections
- Intellectual property safety
Let’s get into the timeline flow…
Major players in the Gen-AI space
- OpenAI: https://openai.com
- ChatGPT https://openai.com/chatgpt
- DALL-E 3: https://openai.com/dall-e-3 (text to image)
- Sora: https://openai.com/sora (text to video)
- Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com
- Anthropic https://www.anthropic.com (AI safety and research)
- Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com (text to image)
- Stability.AI https://stability.ai (text to video, etc.)
- DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com (text to image)
Anthrop LLC v. Anthropic PBC et al.
Gen-AI: Claude 2
Reason: Trademark/copyright infringement re: song lyrics.
Silverman et al v. OpenAI, Inc. et al
Gen-AI: OpenAI
Reason: Partial suit permitted to proceed re: unfair business practice.
FTC launches antitrust inquiry
Gen-AI: Amazon, OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, Anthropic
Reason: FTC Orders gen-AI companies to reveal partnership info.
The Author's Guild sues OpenAI
Case: Author's Guild et al v. OpenAI Inc. et al
Reason: Copyright infringement
Multiple authors sue Meta Platforms
Case: Chabon et al v. Meta Platforms Inc.
Reason: Copyright infringement
Author Chabon and others sue OpenAI
Case: Chabon et al v. OpenAI, Inc. et al
Reason: Copyright infringement
Author Paul Tremblay and others sue OpenAI
Case: Tremblay et al v. OPENAI, INC. et al
Reason: Copyright infringement
Stock art company Getty Images sues Stability AI
Case: Getty Images (US), Inc. v. Stability AI, Inc.
Reason: Copyright infringement
Artists sue image gen-AI companies
Case: Andersen et al v. Stability AI Ltd. et al
Reason: Copyright infringement
Plaintiffs: Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz
Defendants: Stability AI Ltd., Stability AI, Inc., Midjourney, Inc. and DeviantArt, Inc.