OpenAI is once again under intense scrutiny following new allegations that its latest AI model, GPT-4o, may have been trained on copyrighted and paywalled content without proper authorization. The claims originate from the AI Disclosures Project, a non-profit AI watchdog organization founded in 2024 by media mogul Tim O’Reilly and economist Ilan Strauss.
Allegations and Findings
The AI Disclosures Project recently published a study alleging that OpenAI’s GPT-4o demonstrates a notable recognition of copyrighted books published by O’Reilly Media, despite the absence of a licensing agreement between OpenAI and the publisher. The research compared GPT-4o’s recognition of paywalled content to that of older models, such as GPT-3.5 Turbo, and found a significant increase in recognition rates.
To conduct their analysis, researchers utilized a technique known as the “membership inference attack” or DE-COP. This method tests whether an AI model can differentiate between original human-authored texts and AI-generated paraphrased versions. If a model reliably distinguishes between the two, it suggests prior exposure to the original data. The study examined 13,962 paragraph excerpts from 34 O’Reilly books, concluding that GPT-4o exhibited an 82% recognition rate, compared to just over 50% for GPT-3.5 Turbo.
While the findings appear compelling, the study’s authors, including AI researcher Sruly Rosenblat, acknowledged potential limitations. They noted that users may have manually fed excerpts from paywalled books into ChatGPT, inadvertently introducing the content into OpenAI’s system. Additionally, the study did not evaluate OpenAI’s most recent models, such as GPT-4.5 and the reasoning models o3-mini and o1, leaving open questions about whether similar patterns persist in those models.
Broader Industry Implications
These allegations contribute to a series of ongoing legal challenges against OpenAI, as the company faces multiple lawsuits accusing it of copyright infringement and unauthorized data use. OpenAI, alongside other leading AI firms, has advocated for a more flexible legal framework regarding the use of copyrighted material in AI training, arguing that such practices should qualify under fair use.
Despite these legal disputes, OpenAI has been actively securing licensing agreements with news publishers, social networks, and stock media libraries to ensure access to high-quality training data. Additionally, the company has been hiring journalists and content experts to refine its AI models’ outputs.
Calls for Transparency and Accountability
The AI Disclosures Project argues that the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials threatens the revenue streams of professional content creators and could ultimately diminish the diversity of online content. The organization has called for greater transparency and accountability in AI training processes, advocating for policies that ensure fair compensation for content creators whose work contributes to AI model development.
As OpenAI continues to defend its practices, these findings have intensified the debate over copyright and data ethics in the AI industry. With legal battles ongoing and regulatory scrutiny increasing, the question of how to balance AI innovation with intellectual property rights remains a crucial and unresolved issue.
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