Publishers including Condé Nast, The Atlantic, and Forbes have filed a lawsuit against Cohere, a generative AI startup. They claim that Cohere used at least 4,000 copyrighted works to train its AI models without permission. The publishers say this has harmed their referral traffic.
The lawsuit also accuses Cohere of trademark infringement. It claims Cohere’s AI “hallucinated” content that wasn’t actually published by the outlets. Josh Gartner, head of communications at Cohere, said the company “strongly stands by its practices for responsibly training its enterprise AI.” He called the lawsuit “misguided and frivolous.”
“We have long prioritized controls that mitigate the risk of IP infringement and respect the rights of holders,” Gartner added.
“We would have welcomed a conversation about their specific concerns rather than learning about them in a filing. We expect this matter to be resolved in our favor.”
This lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions targeting AI companies for alleged IP violations.
Cohere lawsuit over AI copyright issues
Some companies, such as OpenAI, have started licensing content to avoid future legal challenges. They argue that their use of copyrighted material falls under fair use. The lawsuit highlights the ongoing tension between content creators and AI companies over the use of copyrighted material.
This debate is likely to continue as AI technology evolves. Publishers want to protect their intellectual property rights and investments. Meanwhile, AI firms aim to train their models on vast amounts of data to improve their capabilities.
The outcome of this case and others like it could have major implications for both industries going forward. It may set important legal precedents around fair use, copyright, and the responsibilities of AI companies when training on published works. All sides will be watching this lawsuit closely to see how the court rules on these complex issues at the intersection of media, technology and the law.
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