Authors Take Legal Action Against Nvidia
Recently, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) found itself in hot water as three authors filed a lawsuit against the tech giant. The authors—Brian Keene, Abdi Nazemian, and Stewart O’Nan—claim that Nvidia unlawfully utilized their copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence system, NeMo. According to a report by Reuters, the authors alleged that Nvidia included their works as part of a massive dataset of approximately 196,640 books used to teach NeMo how to replicate standard written language.
Controversy Surrounding Copyright Infringement
The authors pointed out that their works were removed from the dataset in October, citing reported copyright violations. They further mentioned in the lawsuit, which was filed in a San Francisco federal court, that Nvidia’s action of taking down the works implied acknowledgment of using their copyrighted material for training NeMo, thus violating their intellectual property rights.
Seeking Damages for Copyright Violations
The books involved in the lawsuit are Brian Keene’s 2008 novel Ghost Walk, Abdi Nazemian’s 2019 book Like a Love Story, and Stewart O’Nan’s 2007 novella Last Night at the Lobster. The authors are now seeking unspecified damages on behalf of U.S. individuals whose copyrighted works contributed to the training of large language models (LLMs) for NeMo over the past three years.
Industry Scrutiny on AI Training Tactics
This lawsuit is part of a broader conversation surrounding the ethical use of copyrighted material in training artificial intelligence models. A notable precedent occurred in December 2023 when The New York Times Company (NYT) took legal action against Microsoft (MSFT) and OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement related to AI model training using the newspaper’s content. However, OpenAI recently requested a federal judge to dismiss sections of the lawsuit, claiming that the NYT engaged in unethical practices.
Nvidia’s Financial Performance Amidst Legal Challenges
Despite the legal turmoil, Nvidia has experienced a surge in its stock value over the past year. Shares of the company, known for its AI-enabling chips used by various industries, have risen by an impressive 260%. Currently boasting a market capitalization exceeding $2 trillion, Nvidia remains a significant player in the technology sector.
