John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, George R.R. Martin, and 14 other authors have initiated legal action against OpenAI, alleging "systematic theft on a mass scale" of their copyrighted works by artificial intelligence programs. Filed in a New York federal court, the lawsuit claims "flagrant and harmful infringements of plaintiffs’ registered copyrights" and criticizes ChatGPT as a "massive commercial enterprise" built on "systematic theft on a mass scale."

The Authors Guild spearheaded this suit, with participants including David Baldacci, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, and Elin Hilderbrand. Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild, emphasized the importance of halting this alleged theft to protect literary culture and author control over AI-generated use of their works.

The lawsuit cites specific instances where ChatGPT allegedly generated infringing content, such as producing an unauthorized prequel to George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" titled "A Dawn of Direwolves," which used characters from Martin's existing series.

In response, OpenAI expressed respect for writers' rights and its willingness to collaborate with creators globally. They hope to find mutually beneficial solutions to address authors' concerns about AI technology use.

This lawsuit follows previous legal actions against OpenAI by authors, including Michael Chabon and David Henry Hwang. OpenAI sought dismissal of similar lawsuits in California in August, arguing that they misunderstood copyright's scope.

Concerns raised by authors have prompted Amazon, the largest U.S. book retailer, to revise its e-book policies. Amazon now requires writers using its Kindle Direct Program to notify the inclusion of AI-generated content in advance and limits authors to three new self-published books on Kindle Direct per day to control AI text proliferation.