Last June, Microsoft, OpenAI and others were hit with a class action lawsuit involving their AI data-scraping technologies. P.M. et al. v. OpenAI et al. On Tuesday (September 5, 2023) another class action lawsuit was filed against them. (A.T. et al. v. OpenAI et al.) The gravamen of both of these complaints is that these companies allegedly trained their AI technologies using personal information from millions of users, in violation of federal and state privacy statutes and other laws.
Among the laws alleged to have been violated are the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, California’s unfair competition law, Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. The lawsuits also allege a variety of common law claims, including negligence, invasion of privacy, conversion, unjust enrichment, breach of the duty to warn, and such.
This is just the most recent lawsuit in a growing number of claims against big AI. Many involve allegations of copyright infringement, but privacy is a growing concern. This particular suit is asking for an award of monetary damages and an order that would require the companies to implement safeguards for the protection of private data.
Microsoft reportedly has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and its app, ChatGPT.
The case is A.T. v. OpenAI LP, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-04557 (September 5, 2023).
Is Microsoft “too big to fail” in court? We shall see.
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About the Author: Written by Thomas James, a licensed attorney with a practice focused on trademark and copyright protection for creators, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. He is an accomplished author of legal texts and is admitted to practice before the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.
Disclaimer: The information in this blog post is for general informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship. While I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. If you need legal advice, you should retain or consult with an attorney.
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