Canadian news publishers suing ChatGPT developer OpenAI

A coalition of Canadian news publishers is suing OpenAI for using news content to train its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence system.

The coalition includes The Canadian Press, Torstar, Globe and Mail, Postmedia and CBC/Radio-Canada.

The outlets say in a joint statement that OpenAI is regularly breaching copyright by scraping large amounts of content from Canadian media.

The statement says OpenAI is profiting from that content without permission or compensation to content owners.

Generative AI can create text, images, videos and computer code based on a simple prompt, but the systems must first study vast amounts of existing content.

It’s the first such case in Canada, though numerous lawsuits are underway in the United States, including a case by the New York Times against the OpenAI and Microsoft.