Several authors have taken legal action against OpenAI, joining a group of writers in a lawsuit against AI companies for using their books without permission to train AI models. The Authors Guild and notable authors like Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jodi Picoult have filed the lawsuit in New York's Southern District, aiming for class-action status.

The complaint alleges that OpenAI copied the authors' works without authorization and used them to train large language models. This, the authors argue, threatens their ability to earn a living, as it enables others to generate text that they would otherwise pay writers to create.

Furthermore, the authors express concerns that OpenAI's models could produce derivative works based on their books, potentially harming their market. The complaint suggests that OpenAI could have used public domain materials instead of copyrighted content without proper licensing.