Key Ex-OpenAI Researcher Subpoenaed in AI Copyright Case

Alec Radford Subpoenaed in OpenAI Copyright Case

Alec Radford, a key researcher instrumental in the development of numerous artificial intelligence technologies at OpenAI, has received a subpoena related to the ongoing copyright lawsuit against the company. This information was revealed in a court document filed on Tuesday.

The filing, submitted by legal counsel representing the plaintiffs to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, confirms that Radford was served with the subpoena on February 25th.

Radford’s Role at OpenAI

Radford departed from OpenAI in late 2023 to dedicate himself to independent research endeavors. He is recognized as the primary author of OpenAI’s foundational research paper detailing generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs).

These GPTs form the core technology behind OpenAI’s most widely used products, notably the ChatGPT AI chatbot platform.

Radford initially joined OpenAI in 2016, just one year after the organization’s establishment. Throughout his tenure, he contributed to the development of multiple models within the GPT series.

His work also encompassed the Whisper speech recognition model and DALL-E, OpenAI’s innovative image generation model.

Details of the Copyright Litigation

The lawsuit, formally titled “re OpenAI ChatGPT Litigation,” was initiated by a group of authors, including Paul Tremblay, Sarah Silverman, and Michael Chabon.

The plaintiffs allege that OpenAI committed copyright infringement by utilizing their copyrighted works to train its AI models. They further contend that ChatGPT itself infringes upon their works through extensive, unattributed quotations.

Previously, the Court dismissed a portion of the plaintiffs’ claims; however, the claim concerning direct infringement was permitted to proceed. OpenAI asserts that its utilization of copyrighted material for training purposes is permissible under the doctrine of fair use.

Other Key Figures Involved

Radford is not the sole prominent individual being sought for testimony by the authors’ legal team. Requests have also been made to compel depositions from Dario Amodei and Benjamin Mann, both former OpenAI employees who subsequently founded Anthropic.

Both Amodei and Mann have contested these motions, arguing that fulfilling them would impose an undue burden.

This week, a U.S. magistrate judge ruled that Amodei is required to undergo extensive questioning regarding his work at OpenAI. This ruling applies to both the current copyright case and a separate case brought forth by the Authors Guild.