Overview of the OpenAI and Google class action lawsuits:
- WHO: Plaintiff David Millette has filed class action lawsuits against Google LLC, OpenAI Inc. and related companies.
- Why: Millette claims that Google and OpenAI use YouTube videos to train their artificial intelligence products without asking the permission of the people who uploaded the videos.
- Where: The Google and OpenAI class action lawsuits were filed in federal court in California.
Two new class action lawsuits accuse Google and OpenAI of illegally using YouTube videos to train their artificial intelligence products without obtaining the consent of the people who uploaded the videos, Law360 reports.
David Millette filed the two separate class action lawsuits against Google LLC and OpenAI Inc. and their affiliates, alleging that Google and OpenAI train their large language modeling programs using unauthorized transcriptions of YouTube videos.
Google’s multimodal large language modeling program is called Gemini and OpenAI’s program is called ChatGPT. These types of programs can process information in the form of photos, text and videos, Google’s class action lawsuit says.
Millette claims that Google and OpenAI use YouTube video transcriptions to train their AI programs to imitate speech patterns when responding to user requests.
“YouTube has been a popular video-sharing platform for years, allowing content creators and users to upload and share videos with a global audience,” Millette says in the class action lawsuit against Google and the class action lawsuit against OpenAI.
“However, without the knowledge of those who upload videos to YouTube, the defendants secretly transcribed YouTube videos to create training data sets that the defendants then use to train their AI products.”
Class action lawsuits against Google and OpenAI claim companies profit from unauthorized video use
Gemini and ChatGPT create imitations of creative works and human speech based on the information used to train the programs, Millette claims. By training them on YouTube videos without permission, they compete with the video creators and take their ideas and words, the Google and OpenAI class action lawsuits claim.
The Google and OpenAI class action lawsuits allege that the companies profited by training their AI products on the content of YouTube videos without permission. Millette is making claims for unjust enrichment and violations of California’s unfair competition law.
The proposed classes in Google’s class action lawsuit and OpenAI’s class action lawsuit both include anyone in the United States whose YouTube videos were transcribed and used without their permission to train the companies’ Gemini and ChatGPT AI products.
Google was recently awarded a similar class action lawsuit and claims that the company trained its AI software using datasets that contained copyrighted images.
What do you think about the allegations that Google and OpenAI are using YouTube videos illegally and without permission to train AI products? Let us know your opinion in the comments.
Millette is represented by L. Timothy Fisher, Joshua B. Glatt, Joseph I. Marchese and Julian C. Diamond of Bursor & Fisher PA.
The Class action lawsuits against OpenAI and Google Are David Millette v. OpenAI Inc. et al.Case No. 3:24-cv-04710, and David Millette v. Google LLC et al.Case No. 5:24-cv-04708, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Read more about class action lawsuits and class action settlements:
