German Court Rules ChatGPT Illegally Used Song Lyrics for AI Training
This is the first time a court in Europe has ruled in favor of creators whose works were used to train generative AI
GEMA, a German performance rights organization, has won a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI. The German court ruled that the global AI company violated copyright law by failing to secure licenses to use song lyrics to train its popular chatbot, ChatGPT.
The details:
GEMA’s legal team proved that ChatGPT has copies of protected song lyrics in its database that are used as responses to common user prompts.
OpenAI argued it was a “privileged research organization,” and thus was allowed to source song lyrics as part of legal authorization for text and data mining.
But the court rejected that claim and countered by saying reproducing protected lyrics without licenses constitutes copyright infringement.
What they said:
Dr Tobias Holzmüller, GEMA’s CEO: “The internet is not some kind of self-service buffet, and creative achievements by human beings are not simply templates for use free of charge. Today, we have set a precedent that both protects and clarifies the rights of creative copyright holders: operators of AI tools such as ChatGPT must also comply with copyright law.”
GEMA, a German performance rights organization, has won a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI. The German court ruled that the global AI company violated copyright law by failing to secure licenses to use song lyrics to train its popular chatbot, ChatGPT.
The details:
GEMA’s legal team proved that ChatGPT has copies of protected song lyrics in its database that are used as responses to common user prompts.
OpenAI argued it was a “privileged research organization,” and thus was allowed to source song lyrics as part of legal authorization for text and data mining.
But the court rejected that claim and countered by saying reproducing protected lyrics without licenses constitutes copyright infringement.
What they said:
Dr Tobias Holzmüller, GEMA’s CEO: “The internet is not some kind of self-service buffet, and creative achievements by human beings are not simply templates for use free of charge. Today, we have set a precedent that both protects and clarifies the rights of creative copyright holders: operators of AI tools such as ChatGPT must also comply with copyright law.”
GEMA, a German performance rights organization, has won a landmark lawsuit against OpenAI. The German court ruled that the global AI company violated copyright law by failing to secure licenses to use song lyrics to train its popular chatbot, ChatGPT.
The details:
GEMA’s legal team proved that ChatGPT has copies of protected song lyrics in its database that are used as responses to common user prompts.
OpenAI argued it was a “privileged research organization,” and thus was allowed to source song lyrics as part of legal authorization for text and data mining.
But the court rejected that claim and countered by saying reproducing protected lyrics without licenses constitutes copyright infringement.
What they said:
Dr Tobias Holzmüller, GEMA’s CEO: “The internet is not some kind of self-service buffet, and creative achievements by human beings are not simply templates for use free of charge. Today, we have set a precedent that both protects and clarifies the rights of creative copyright holders: operators of AI tools such as ChatGPT must also comply with copyright law.”
👋 Disclosures & Transparency Block
- This article was written with information sourced from Music Business Worldwide.
- We covered it because of the ongoing conversation around AI in the music industry.
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