OpenAI Dodges Unfair Competition Claim in Sarah Silverman Case

A proposed class action from Sarah Silverman and other authors accusing OpenAI Inc. of training their generative AI tools on the writers’ books without permission was trimmed to a single copyright infringement claim on Tuesday.

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín dismissed Silverman and the authors’ only other legal claim in the case accusing OpenAI of violating California’s unfair competition law by “secretively” training ChatGPT on their writings without consent.

Martínez-Olguín said in her five-page opinion that the federal Copyright Act preempts the state law claim because it is “qualitatively the same as the direct copyright infringement claim.” The judge had previously allowed ...