Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images
A laptop keyboard and AppStore ChatGPT are seen on a mobile phone screen in this illustrated photo taken on June 8, 2023 in Krakow, Poland.
CNN
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OpenAI, creator of the viral ChatGPT tool, is facing lawsuits for stealing and misusing vast amounts of people’s data from the internet to train its AI tools.
A proposed class action filed Wednesday in federal court in California alleges that OpenAI secretly collected “massive amounts of personal data from the internet,” according to the complaint. The nearly 160-page complaint alleges that this personal data includes: “Basically any data exchanged on the Internet” was also seized by the company without notice, consent or “due compensation.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that this data collection occurred on an “unprecedented scale.”
OpenAI did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on Wednesday. Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“By collecting millions of previously obscure personal data and exploiting it to develop unstable and untested technology, OpenAI puts everyone at immense risk. It is unacceptable by any means of responsible data protection and use,” said Timothy K. Giordano. A partner at the law firm Clarkson behind the lawsuit said in a statement to CNN Wednesday.
The complaint also alleges that OpenAI products “use personal information, including personal information stolen without their informed consent or knowledge, from hundreds of millions of Internet users, including children of all ages.” .
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief in the form of a temporary freeze on further commercial use of OpenAI products. It also seeks payment of “data dividends” as financial compensation to those whose information is used to develop and train OpenAI’s tools.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT late last year, and the tool quickly made headlines for its ability to generate compelling, human-like responses to user prompts. ChatGPT’s success has spurred an apparent AI arms race in the tech world, where companies large and small are now vying to develop AI tools and deploy them in as many products as possible.
