Unsealed Briefs in Authors’ Case v. Microsoft/OpenAI
Newly unsealed court documents in the Authors Guild lawsuit against OpenAI reveal executives knowingly used pirated books from LibGen and anticipated widespread job displacement for writers.
summary is enough The press release efficiently summarizes the most damning internal quotes and legal claims from the unsealed briefs.
summary
Newly released court filings in the Authors Guild lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft contain internal communications showing executives were aware their training data relied on pirated books from LibGen. Employees discussed the legal and PR risks, explicitly noting that a leak about using a sketchy Russian website on Hacker News would be unfortunate. The documents also reveal internal discussions acknowledging that their systems would automate away human writing careers, which they dismissed as acceptable economic disruption. These unsealed briefs provide plaintiffs with critical evidence regarding the companies' knowing infringement and intent.
key points
- OpenAI and Microsoft executives were informed as early as 2019 that OpenAI models were trained on data sourced from LibGen.
- Internal messages show employees actively worried about the public relations fallout if it became public that they used copyrighted data from a sketchy Russian website.
- Execs and researchers explicitly discussed that their models would replace genre fiction authors, writing off the labor displacement as acceptable economic disruption.
who should read it
Legal, tech, and creative industry professionals tracking the intersection of artificial intelligence, copyright law, and labor disruption.
discussion skeptical
consensus
Commenters focus heavily on the irony of OpenAI executives worrying about Hacker News optics, while debating the double standards of copyright enforcement compared to historical cases like Aaron Swartz.
pushback
Some commenters push back on the framing of job displacement, arguing that technological disruption of labor is a natural historical cycle rather than an inherently illegal act.
Newly released court filings quote an OpenAI researcher saying: “I was just worried about optics - i.e. 'openai uses copyrighted data from sketchy russian website’ showing up on HN would be unfortunate."
That's just one of several interesting quotes that have surfaced in documents from the Authors Guild's lawsuit against OpenAI.
It highlights the meta-commentary from OpenAI researchers specifically worrying about their practices being exposed on Hacker News.
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