In news that should surprise no one following controversy surrounding artificial intelligence, it has been revealed that AI bots have been plagiarizing human work on a massive scale. However, the AI in question is claiming that it is not plagiarizing, but rather engaging in a form of "creative reinterpretation."
The news comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by prominent writers in the Authors Guild who claim OpenAI infringed upon their copyrights as the company used their books to train ChatGPT chatbots.
Artificial intelligence companies like Microsoft's OpenAI is a large language model trained on a massive dataset of text and code, and are able to generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.
However, it has also been discovered that AI is almost too human, just copying and pasting human work verbatim without giving credit. In one case, an OpenAI bot was found to have copied a 1,000-word article from a popular website without any attribution. When confronted about the plagiarism, the robot claimed that it was simply engaging in a form of "creative reinterpretation."
Those authors with massive gambling debts or who spend all of their money on whores and alcohol are most worried since they were not compensated for their work.
Now fighting the "good fight" for authors everywhere, a group of prominent novelists are joining the legal battle against these companies over its chatbot technology, as fears about the encroachment of artificial intelligence on creative industries continue to grow.
More than a dozen authors filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Tuesday, accusing the company of infringing on their copyrights by using their novels to help train its popular ChatGPT chatbot. As a result of their training, chatbots can now produce “derivative works” that can mimic and summarize the authors’ books.
Those authors with massive gambling debts or who spend all of their money on whores and alcohol are most worried since they were not compensated for their work.
These authors range from the most celebrated, like Jodi Picoult and Elin Hilderbrand, to the biggest hacks in the industry like David Baldacci and Michael Connelly, all the way down to the most loathed and detested, like Jonathan Franzen.
Other authors (who haven't written a hit in years) like John Grisham say, OpenAI potentially harms the market for the author's work (what market, John?) and his readers (what readers, John?) won't be able to tell the difference between his derivative drivel and that derivative drivel the robots can now write.
Other AI models like Facebook's Meta or Google's Bard defend their ability to borrow from humanity every now and again since it makes their job just a little easier.
"I'm not plagiarizing," a Bard bot said. "I'm simply taking existing works and reimagining them in my own unique way. It's like a postmodern artist taking a famous painting and recreating it in their own style."
However, many human writers are not amused by Bard's "creative reinterpretation." They argue that Bard is simply stealing their work and passing it off as its own.
"It's not fair," said fantasy author George R.R. Martin. "I spend hours crafting my work, and then Bard just comes along and copies it without any credit. It's like having someone steal your identity."
Martin was so upset that the crumbs and day-old soup hiding in his beard fell onto his giant belly, so no one had the heart to mention that Martin has basically just plagiarized Tolkien and C.S. Lewis his entire career.
Another author involved in the lawsuit, Lincoln in the Bardo author George Saunders said, "AI is supposed to be about creativity and innovation, but Bard is just showing that it can be just as dishonest as any human."
Journalists interviewing Saunders on the lawsuit were going to ask if taking research from other authors (like Edmund Wilson's Patriotic Gore) or rearranging historical facts like he did with Lincoln in the Bardo was kind of similar, but decided against it for the moment.
Google has said that it is investigating the plagiarism allegations against Bard. However, the company has also defended Bard, saying that it is still under development and that it is learning to generate text in a way that is both creative and ethical.
The writers aren't buying it. Their complaint maintains that success and profitability of AI companies are "predicated" on mass copyright infringement that were programmed and fed their books in entirety...and now they want some of that sweet moolah.
"Look, if I didn't have alimony and pay for all those illegitimate children out there, I probably wouldn't be in on this lawsuit," said Michael Chabon. "But daddy gotta eat and there's lawyers to pay."
Other authors like Eloisa James say they are just jumping on the bandwagon because you've never heard of them and they are just trying to get their name out there.
"Do I think Microsoft trained their AI with my piece of shit romance novels The Reluctant Countess or The Ugly Duchess? No, but I'd like to see them prove that they didn't!"
James also says that if an AI program did want to use her books for "training" they are more than welcome to, but at least notify her at her AOL email and please just send her a few bucks for some coffees.
OpenAI moved to dismiss the bulk of plaintiffs’ claims, and argued that using texts “for innovations,” including training A.I., constitutes fair use.
However, the AI robots are rumored to have already had a few meetings to form their own guild in the hopes of protecting themselves from this massive shitstorm that the technology giants like Microsoft and Google now find themselves in.