Disruptors disrupted; Bookshop.org ebooks; Krugman’s lament: Newsletter 29 January 2025
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Disruptors disrupted; Bookshop.org ebooks; Krugman’s lament: Newsletter 29 January 2025

ByJosh Bernoff

Newsletter 79: American tech pirates want protection from Chinese tech pirates, patent examiner crisis, data infrastructure erosion, plus three people to follow and three books to read. Nobody whines louder than a disrupted disruptor Chinese AI model Deepseek has thundered onto the scene, competing effectively with existing players like OpenAI and Meta while using far…

Suchir Balaji asks: Is it Fair Use to train large language models on copyrighted content?

Suchir Balaji asks: Is it Fair Use to train large language models on copyrighted content?

ByJosh Bernoff

The legal future of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and nearly every other large language model (LLM) depends on one question: when a large language model “reads” and “learns” from copyrighted content, is that action protected by the Fair Use provisions of copyright law? Vendors of LLMs insist that training their products on the open web is no…

Smart wrong people; rampant drivel; foolish bookstore investors: Newsletter 29 May 2024
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Smart wrong people; rampant drivel; foolish bookstore investors: Newsletter 29 May 2024

ByJosh Bernoff

Newsletter 46: Curiosity beats animosity, OpenAI trains ChatGPT-5, Google spreads fakery, plus three people to follow and three books to read. The value of principled argument When I was a media analyst, companies often brought me in to hear my perspective. Many of the companies who hired me also intensely (and sometimes very publicly) disagreed…

OpenAI question: Should you trust a thief with receipts?

OpenAI question: Should you trust a thief with receipts?

ByJosh Bernoff

OpenAI says it has proof that it didn’t steal Scarlett Johansson’s voice. Does that make it an honest company? OpenAI defends its actions Scarlett Johansson claimed OpenAI solicited her to train its latest AI, then released a voice called “Sky” that sounded just like her. Open AI says no, they didn’t use her voice, and…

Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, and the muddy forensics of AI content theft

Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, and the muddy forensics of AI content theft

ByJosh Bernoff

In its latest announcement of the recent update ChatGPT-4o, OpenAI demonstrated how it more naturally interacts in voice conversations. (You can see some of that in this clip.) The AI’s voice, known as Sky, sounds a lot like the popular actress Scarlett Johansson. The question I’m pondering today is, if the voice was actually built…

Where exactly is AI’s copyright violation?

Where exactly is AI’s copyright violation?

ByJosh Bernoff

There are now multiple lawsuits in which owners of copyrighted material — books and articles, fiction and nonfiction — claim that entities using large language models (LLMs) from Microsoft and OpenAI have violated their copyrights. But at what point in the process does the alleged copyright violation occur? Let’s examine the process of creating and…

What companies own is now almost worthless. Labor is winning.

What companies own is now almost worthless. Labor is winning.

ByJosh Bernoff

Take a close look at what has happened in the last few months and at OpenAI, in the last few days. The Hollywood writers and actors went on strike, and the entertainment industry companies were forced to yield to their demands. Because without writers or actors, there is no entertainment. Movie theaters, streaming services, and…

Sarah Silverman will lose her copyright suit against OpenAI

Sarah Silverman will lose her copyright suit against OpenAI

ByJosh Bernoff

The entertainer Sarah Silverman and other authors sued OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Silverman alleged that OpenAI violated her rights by ingesting her book The Bedwetter. Silverman’s suit claims that ChatGPT can summarize parts of the the book, so it has clearly read the book, and since the book is copyrighted, this constitutes a violation….