In May 2020, Media and technology group Thomson Reuters sued a small legal AI startup called Ross Intelligence, alleging that it violated US copyright law by reproducing content from Thomson Reuters’ legal research platform Westlaw. As the epidemic spread, the lawsuit barely registered outside the small world of nerds obsessed with copyright laws. But it’s now clear that this case—filed two years before the generative AI boom began—was a first. A great war Battles between content publishers and artificial intelligence companies are now playing out in courts across the country. The resulting information could make, break, or reshape the ecosystem and the entire AI industry—and in doing so, affect everyone on the Internet.
In the past two years, dozens of other copyright lawsuits have been filed against AI companies At a fast clip. Plaintiffs include individual writers such as Sarah Silverman and Ta Nehisi-Coats, visual artists, media companies such as The New York Times, and Music-industry giants Like Universal Music Group. This variety of rights holders allege that AI companies have used their work to train what are often very lucrative and powerful AI models, which amounts to theft. AI companies often defend themselves by relying on what is called The “fair use” principleArguing that creating AI tools should be considered a situation where it is legal to use copyrighted material without obtaining consent or paying compensation to rights holders. (Widely accepted examples of fair use include parody, news reporting, and academic research.) Nearly every major generative AI company, including OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and Nvidia, is involved in this legal battle. has been drawn
Wired is keeping a close eye on how each of these lawsuits unfolds. We’ve created visualizations to help you track and contextualize which companies and rights holders are involved, where cases have been filed, what they’re alleging, and everything else you need to know.
That first case, Thomson Reuters v. Ross IntelligenceStill winding its way through the court system. A lawsuit that was originally scheduled for earlier this year has been delayed indefinitely, and although the cost of the lawsuit has already put Ross out of business, it’s unclear when it will end. Other cases, such as the lawsuit filed by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, are currently Controversial research periodDuring which both sides are arguing about what information they need to exchange.
