A group of artists has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging that its AI image generator, Imagen, was trained on billions of copyrighted images without their consent, sparking concerns over data usage and intellectual property rights.
Main Points:
1. Allegations: The lawsuit claims that Google used artists’ copyrighted work to train its Imagen tool without authorization, violating intellectual property rights. 2. Broader Implications: This legal action joins several similar lawsuits filed against other tech companies, including OpenAI and Microsoft, over the use of copyrighted materials for AI training. 3. Google’s Defense: Google insists that its AI models rely on publicly accessible data and that using this information aligns with American law, pledging to contest the lawsuit in court.
Summary:
A group of visual artists, including photographer Jingna Zhang and cartoonists Sarah Andersen, Hope Larson, and Jessica Fink, have filed a class action lawsuit against Google in a California federal court. They allege that Google utilized their copyrighted images, among “billions” of others, to train its AI-powered image generator, Imagen, without permission. The plaintiffs argue that this practice infringes on their intellectual property rights, seeking monetary compensation and an injunction to compel Google to delete their works.
Google responded to the lawsuit, emphasizing that its models primarily source data from publicly available information on the internet, which it believes is permissible under U.S. law. The tech giant vows to defend its actions in court. This case reflects a growing trend of legal challenges from content creators against tech companies for using their work in AI training without proper authorization or compensation​.
