Game of Thrones author to sue ChatGPT for ‘systematic theft’

The AI-invention ChatGPT may be sued by authors for “systematic theft.”

American author George R.R. Martin, famed for his fantasy novel A Song of Ice and Fire, which was later adapted into the blockbuster HBO series Game of Thrones, is among 17 writers, who are suing ChatGPT developer, Open AI.

Earlier this week, 17 authors including Martin, David Baldacci, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham Jodi Picoult and others, filed a lawsuit in the federal court of Manhattan, New York, against the AI generative company.

The Authors Guild alleged that the Microsoft-backed Open AI of a “systemic theft on a mass scale” by using their copyrighted content without consent to train its AI models, including the most-used ChatGPT.

The lawsuit further alleged that the program generated “an infringing, unauthorised, and detailed outline” for a Game of Thrones prequel titled A Dawn of Direwolves and even used the existing characters from Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.

In a statement, the Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger noted, “It is imperative that we stop this theft in its tracks or we will destroy our incredible literary culture, which feeds many other creative industries in the US.”

“Great books are generally written by those who spend their careers and, indeed, their lives, learning and perfecting their crafts. To preserve our literature, authors must have the ability to control if and how their works are used by generative AI,” Rasenberger added.

The company’s spokesperson, however, refuted any such claims adding that it respects “the rights of writers and authors.”

“We’re optimistic we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to help people utilise new technology in a rich content ecosystem,” the statement from the company read.

“OpenAI does not want to replace creators,” CEO Sam Altman added.