OpenAI could face huge damages in copyright case
OpenAI is in hot water after authors and publishers found out the company deleted a dataset of pirated books from LibGen, which they say could count as destroying evidence and as evidence of willful copyright infringement.
If the court agrees this was intentional, OpenAI could be hit with damages up to $150,000 per book—way more than the usual penalty.
Deleting data was a bad idea, looks like
Internal Slack messages and emails obtained through court order suggest OpenAI staff discussed deleting the data, which could show intent.
The company first said it deleted the files "due to non-use," but later changed its story, raising eyebrows in court.
With a judge reviewing privilege and discovery disputes and other AI firms recently paying big settlements over similar issues, this case could set important rules for how AI companies handle copyrighted material.