Summary:
Major publishers like Politico and The Atlantic are suing AI startup Cohere for copyright infringement.
The suit claims over 4,000 copyrighted works were used without permission.
Cohere is accused of distributing entire articles without proper attribution.
Publishers seek $150,000 damages per work infringed and aim to limit Cohere's access to copyrighted content.
This lawsuit reflects a growing trend of legal action against AI companies by publishers.
Major Publishers Unite Against AI
Politico, The Atlantic, and other leading publishers are taking a stand by suing AI startup Cohere for copyright and trademark infringement. Their aim? To define the rules for AI's use of journalism.
The Allegations
The lawsuit alleges that Cohere has improperly used over 4,000 copyrighted works to train its large language model. Furthermore, it’s accused of distributing entire articles to users without proper attribution.
Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News Media Alliance, stated, “Rather than create their own content, they’re stealing ours to compete with us without our permission, without compensation, and undermining our very business.”
Trademark Infringement Claims
In addition to copyright issues, the suit claims Cohere engaged in trademark infringement. For instance, the AI allegedly provided articles with the publisher’s name but contained hallucinated and incorrect information, mixing up events like the Hamas attack in Israel with a shooting in Nova Scotia.
Seeking Justice
The publishers are pursuing the maximum damages under the Copyright Act—$150,000 per work infringed. They also seek to limit Cohere's access to copyrighted materials and hope to establish a legal precedent for the licensed use of journalism by AI.
Cohere's Response
Cohere, valued at $5 billion, claims to stand by its responsible training practices and considers the lawsuit misguided and frivolous. They expect a resolution in their favor.
Ongoing Legal Battles in AI
This lawsuit is part of a broader trend where major publishers are increasingly taking legal actions against AI companies for copyright violations, following similar actions against OpenAI and Perplexity.
Cohere’s operations include developing software for building AI applications and running a chatbot for general users, backed by firms like NVIDIA and Salesforce.
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