Will ChatGPT/OpenAI be crippled or go under?

Patrick Reany

25 August 2023

As one who loves ChatGPT, I am concerned that this program/service will go under, as OpenAI
possibly goes under. Or, that OpenAI may be forced to retrain ChatGPT on a restricted set of
materials, and thus crippling it severely. Why? This is all due to many lawsuits that have been
filed against the company. And there's a lot of litigation going on against the producers of other
chatbots and AI graphics programs these days.

If I go to the public library and speed-read a thousand books, retaining most of what I read in
my own memory, and then, on the basis on the knowledge I gained, open a school for profit, is
that breaking copyright law? Maybe. It would depend crucially on how I use that information
gained.

Look, from the legal standpoint I'm not taking sides, but I believe two things:

1. I think that the world will be at a great loss to lose ChatGPT or have it
   severely crippled.
2. There is no way that ChatGPT takes the place of good books. I have purchased books,
   some of them brand new, over the same period that I have been using ChatGPT
   and BingChat.

Anyway, it all comes down to how the courts decide on this issue and how OpenAI and other
chatbot producers can come out of the litigation. Will they bounce back or go under?

P.S. Copyright is not the only issue by which these chatbot companies are being sued. Other
grounds include issues of privacy and of Internet 'data collection' without permission. Only
time will tell which chatbots will be left standing when the legal dust clears.

References:

https://bgr.com/tech/openai-may-have-to-wipe-chatgpt-and-start-over/

https://techaeris.com/2023/08/17/report-openai-could-be-facing-a-nyt-lawsuit-over-chatgpt/