ChatGPT creator OpenAI sued for theft of private data in ‘AI arms race’

OpenAI, which is at the forefront of the burgeoning industry, is accused in the suit of conducting an enormous clandestine web-scraping operation, violating terms of service agreements and state and federal privacy and property laws. — Reuters

ChatGPT creator OpenAI Inc is stealing “vast amounts” of personal information to train its artificial intelligence models in a heedless hunt for profits, a group of anonymous individuals claimed in a lawsuit seeking class action status.

OpenAI has violated privacy laws by secretly scraping 300 billion words from the Internet, tapping “books, articles, websites and posts – including personal information obtained without consent,” according to the sprawling, 157-page lawsuit. It doesn’t shy from sweeping language, accusing the company of risking “civilisational collapse”.