NYT v. OpenAI: Potential Risks to the PR Industry & How to Protect Your Organization
Is ChatGPT Guilty of Copyright Infringement?
The New York Times (NYT) ended 2023 with a bang by becoming the first major media organization to sue OpenAI and its biggest backer, Microsoft, over copyright infringement. According to the lawsuit, The Times seeks to hold OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, accountable for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages that they owe for the unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.”
Concerns of copyright infringement result from how AI chatbots such as ChatGPT are trained. The artificial intelligence relies on web scraping to gather data across the internet, which allegedly includes millions of The Times’s copyrighted publications. The Times’s legal team has called for the destruction of these data sets, as the resulting outputs allegedly include copyrighted materials, sometimes near-verbatim, and divert traffic away from the original source of information.
With several writers, comedians, and journals filing similar complaints following The Times’s lawsuit, it appears the long-debated question regarding “fair use” for AI may soon receive an official answer: can artificial intelligence technologies use copyrighted material without authorization to train their models? The outcome of this lawsuit not only has the potential to change how all artificial intelligence can be trained, but it may also impact how many individuals and businesses, especially in the PR industry, can legally use AI to their advantage.
Potential Risks to the PR Industry
Despite recent controversy, generative AI can help PR practitioners work more efficiently. Professionals commonly use the tool to ignite the ideation process or compare alternative versions of copy to find missed angles. AI can also be used to collect data, proofread work, automate repetitive tasks, measure the effectiveness of PR campaigns, and even identify potential crises. If done correctly, utilizing generative AI can save PR professionals both time and money. However, the outcome of NYT v. OpenAI may change how they can legally use this tool.
Most noteworthy, the court’s ruling on OpenAI’s role in copyright infringement may affect previous publications citing ChatGPT. If the court orders OpenAI to destroy all data sets trained on copyrighted materials, it may consequently put publications citing that data at risk. For example, imagine a blog admittedly cites ChatGPT for collecting data. If the courts determine ChatGPT illegally published that data, would that in turn make the blog guilty of copyright infringement as well? If so, PR professionals and publishers may need all hands on deck to revise any publications citing generative AI as a source.
Protecting Your Organization
No matter the outcome of NYT v. OpenAI, businesses should protect themselves by adopting a code of ethical AI practices. For example, The Ethical Use of AI For Public Relations Practitioners establishes the proper use of generative AI tools within the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The publication recognizes that “unintentional copyright infringement or plagiarism of others’ content or likeness poses potential legal liability, although it is unclear how copyright law pertains to nonhuman-generated content.”
As the outcome of NYT v. OpenAI may clarify how copyright law applies to AI content, adopting an appropriate code of AI ethics could save organizations from the courtroom. Specifically, PRSA advises users to fact-check all data and to refrain from publishing work solely generated through AI systems: “It is the responsibility of the user – not the AI system – to verify that content is not infringing another’s work.” While this responsibility will likely remain for users, the court’s decision regarding generative AI’s responsibility in the matter may ultimately change how PR professionals can appropriately use AI going forward.
About Alexia
Alexia Frazzitta is a junior at Grand Valley State University studying Advertising and Public Relations with a minor in Digital Studies. This is Alexia’s first semester working for GrandPR as an Account Associate. She is also the Vice President of Chapter Development for PRSSA and works in the Office of Student Life to help students get involved on campus. After graduation, Alexia hopes to utilize her copywriting and brand strategy skills in the technology or entertainment industry.
