Authors Sue OpenAI, Raising New Copyright Questions

3 min readJul 6, 2023

Key Takeaways

Two authors have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT
They say their books were unlawfully used to “train” the artificial intelligence chatbot
Despite new legalities and questions to navigate on the frontier of artificial intelligence, Wall Street remains excited about its potential

Who is suing whom and why should you care?

Mona Awad, author of Bunny and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, and Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World, claim that their copyrighted works have been “unlawfully ingested” by ChatGPT to produce detailed, accurate summaries.

They are suing OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, for monetary damages on the grounds that OpenAI is “unfairly” profiting from their material — and that of other writers like them.

As with most things AI, this is uncharted territory. ChatGPT helps people do everything from telling jokes to writing philosophical essays, but its relative sophistication also begs all kinds of questions about the ownership of ideas. That, in turn, has ignited a new wave of conversation around the potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence.

But innovation waits for no one, and positive use cases for AI abound. From saving the bees to making driverless cars safer to booking less expensive flights — AI is helping us out in myriad ways.

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How is AI faring on Wall Street?

There will be much to sort out when it comes to the ethics and legality of AI, and this recent lawsuit is likely one of many catalysts for conversation about the protection of IP with ChatGPT in particular.

But complicated doesn’t mean bad. In the1980s “computerphobia” was a real thing, and now look at us! Although our connected world comes with its challenges, we also enjoy plenty of upside. And Wall Street loves upside.

In April, VCs put just over $300 million into OpenAI at a valuation of $27 billion — $29 billion. Across the board, excitement over AI is bringing some pep back to the tech sector after recent layoffs and disappointing earnings.

The Nasdaq jumped 32% in the first half of this year, its best first half since 1983. Nvidia, whose chips enable the AI workload at many companies, led that jump with a 190% rally.

In June, Bank of America and RBC both highlighted AI while boosting their 2023 year-end price targets for the S&P 500. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, called the S&P 500 “undervalued” because of the AI boom.

The bottom line

For obvious reasons, we’re bullish on the future of AI. We don’t know exactly which other companies will leverage the tech best, but it has a lot of potential for exciting innovation across industries and sectors. That’s not something to miss out on.

The Emerging Tech Kit from Q.ai compares companies like Microsoft to peers like Apple and Amazon instead of more speculative, newer technology investments. At the same time, it compares those newer tech companies (hello, AI!) with other ones on the same playing field. That helps you invest in the best of what tech has to offer.