Renowned for its AI-powered chips and sale of software and other hardware, Nvidia faces a lawsuit from three authors alleging unauthorized use of their copyrighted books to train its NeMo AI platform.
Brian Keene, Abdi Nazemian, and Stewart O’Nan raised concerns about their works which were said to be included in a dataset of approximately 196,640 books used to train NeMo in copying standard written language. In October, this dataset was removed following reports of copyright infringement.
The authors, in a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, argue that Nvidia’s takedown of the dataset confirming its use in training NeMo therefore constitutes copyright infringement.
For individuals in the United States copyrighted works contributed to training NeMo’s large language models over the past three years, they are seeking unspecified damages. Few of the works mentioned in the lawsuit are Keene’s “Ghost Walk,” Nazemian’s “Like a Love Story,” and O’Nan’s “Last Night at the Lobster.”
Nvidia while being contacted declined making a comment. Although lawyers representing the authors have also not yet responded to requests for additional comments. This lawsuit adds Nvidia to a growing list of companies facing litigation from writers and entities like the New York Times over generative AI technology, which generates new content based on various inputs.
NeMo is promoted by Nvidia as an efficient and cost-effective tool for adopting generative AI. Other companies embroiled in similar lawsuits over this technology include OpenAI, the creator of the AI platform ChatGPT, and its collaborator Microsoft. Nvidia’s success in the AI sector has made it a favorite among investors, with its stock price soaring nearly 600% since the end of 2022, giving it a market value of almost $2.2 trillion.
The case, titled Nazemian et al v Nvidia Corp, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California under case number 24-01454.
