Court filings released Thursday in Authors Guild v. OpenAI reveal that executives and employees at OpenAI and Microsoft intentionally broke the law while training their AI products on copyrighted books, according to documents filed in the class action case.
The brief, filed as part of multidistrict litigation pending in Manhattan, shows that developers at both companies had knowledge of the damage their actions could cause to authors, publishers, and American culture. According to the Authors Guild, the filings “put the defendant companies’ guilty knowledge and reckless actions at the center of the narrative.”
The plaintiffs, represented by lead counsel Justin A. Nelson from Susman Godfrey, include The Authors Guild and individual authors such as David Baldacci, John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, Jonathan Franzen, and others. The case alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft illegally trained their products on copyrighted books without permission or compensation.
According to the brief filed by the plaintiffs, the companies pursued their approach “even in the face of clear evidence that doing so would degrade American culture by substituting human works with AI slop and would put thousands of writers out of work.” The legal documents further characterize OpenAI’s GPT models as posing “an existential threat to those who write and publish books.”
Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger stated that the filings “reveal shocking disdain for writers and their work through repeated, intentional decisions to steal books rather than pay for them with full knowledge that their products will destroy the careers of authors.”
The lawsuit represents a significant moment in ongoing legal battles over AI training data and copyright protection. News media organizations have filed separate but related briefs in the case. The plaintiffs expect additional briefing over the coming months, with a hearing scheduled for early 2027.
With more than 18,000 members, the Authors Guild is the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for published writers and advocates on behalf of working writers to protect their copyrights and ability to earn a livable wage.
Key facts
- Court filings show OpenAI and Microsoft executives and employees intentionally used copyrighted books to train AI models
- The lawsuit includes The Authors Guild and 15 individual authors including John Grisham and George R.R. Martin
- The case is part of multidistrict litigation pending in Manhattan with a hearing expected in early 2027
- According to the brief, the companies knew their actions could destroy authors’ careers and degrade American culture