OpenAI, Microsoft face class-action suit over internet data use for AI models

Sam Altman, the CEO of artificial intelligence lab OpenAI, told a Senate panel he welcomes federal regulation on the technology'to mitigate' its risks. A class-action complaint filed Wednesday in the northern district of California alleges tech leaders OpenAI and Microsoft Corp. used "stolen and misappropriated" information from hundreds of millions of internet users without their knowledge to train and develop its artificial intelligence tech like chatbot ChatGPT. The 16 plaintiffs, who are represented by the Clarkson Law Firm and listed with initials, claimed the defendants "continue to unlawfully collect and feed additional personal data from millions" worldwide to that end and that they systematically scraped 300 billion words from the internet without consent. "Once trained on stolen data, defendants saw the immediate profit potential and rushed the products to market without implementing proper safeguards or controls to ensure that they would not produce or support harmful or malicious content and conduct that could further violate the law, infringe rights and endanger lives," Clarkson continued. "Without these safeguards, the products have already demonstrated their ability to harm humans, in real ways."