Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin rallying against OpenAI in new copyright lawsuit

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is one of 17 high-profile American authors rallying together against the use of Artificial Intelligence. Together, the group has filed a joint lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement.

AI has been an increasingly contentious topic of late. With the rising prevalence of and easier access to various engines like ChatGPT, thousands have been showcasing the power of these divisive tools in recent months.

In one particular instance, a Game of Thrones fan even fed all of GRRM’s literary work into an algorithm and had it spit out a finished version of A Song of Ice and Fire before the author himself gets around to it.

Taking umbrage with the way in which these AI algorithms have been used of late, more than a dozen of the world’s most popular authors – including the likes of John Grisham, David Baldacci, and of course, GRRM – have all banded together to file a lawsuit against OpenAI.

The lawsuit filed on September 19 alleges OpenAI is using the authors’ work to improve the performance of its algorithms, all without explicit permission.

“Defendants copied Plaintffs’ works wholesale,” the lawsuit claims. “Defendants then fed Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works into their “large language models” or “LLMs,” algorithms designed to output human-seeming text responses to users’ prompts and queries.

These algorithms are at the heart of Defendants’ massive commercial enterprise. And at the heart of these algorithms is systematic theft on a mass scale.”

Together, the group of authors believe AI programs are ‘endangering’ their “ability to make a living”, given anyone can use the algorithms to create new works for free.

Addressing the lawsuit head-on, OpenAI responded to a request for comment from IGN, claiming they’re “having productive conversations with many creators around the world, including the Authors Guild,” to discuss their concerns about AI.

“We’re optimistic we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to help people utilize new technology in a rich content ecosystem.”