Software engineers sue OpenAI, Microsoft for violating personal privacy
OpenAI and Microsoft were sued by a product engineer and software engineer of illegally feeding their AI models with their personal information and professional expertise. The two anonymous plaintiffs claimed (pdf) that OpenAI used their personal information scraped from the internet to train its generative AI systems, including ChatGPT . They also accused OpenAI of stealing their 'skills and expertise' in order to make products that could 'someday result in [their] professional obsolescence.' The engineers were seeking unspecified financial damages and demanding that OpenAI and Microsoft establish protective measures to prevent the improper use of private data. System 🤖 ChatGPT Microsoft Copilot Operator: OpenAI; Microsoft Developer: OpenAI; Microsoft Country: USA Sector: Technology Purpose: Generate text Technology: Generative AI ; Machine learning Issue: Privacy; Employment Legal, regulatory 👩🏼⚖️ S A.T., J.H., vs. OPENAI LP, OPENAI INCORPORATED, OPENAI GP, LLC, OPENAI STARTUP FUND I, LP, OPENAI STARTUP FUND GP I, LLC, OPENAI STARTUP FUND MANAGEMENT LLC, MICROSOFT CORPORATION (pdf)
- Date it happened
- 2023-09-01
- Organisation involved
- Microsoft; OpenAI
- Product, system or model
- Gemini; ChatGPT
This incident was imported from AIAAIC and is used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Our additions to it — the structured fields, the translation, the checks against other reports — are published under the same licence.
This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.