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Canadian News Companies Sue OpenAI Over Alleged Copyright Violations

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Five Canadian news media organizations—Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press, and CBC/Radio-Canada—filed a legal action against OpenAI on Friday, alleging the AI company unlawfully used their content to develop its products. This lawsuit adds to a growing wave of legal challenges against generative AI firms by creators and copyright holders worldwide.

In a joint statement, the news companies accused OpenAI of scraping substantial portions of their journalism without permission or compensation. “Journalism is in the public interest. OpenAI using other companies’ journalism for their own commercial gain is not. It’s illegal,” they declared.

Legal and Financial Demands

The plaintiffs filed an 84-page claim in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice, seeking damages and a permanent injunction to prevent OpenAI from further use of their intellectual property. The statement argues that OpenAI has “brazenly misappropriated” the companies’ copyrighted materials for commercial purposes without obtaining legal authorization or offering payment.

“The News Media Companies have never received from OpenAI any form of consideration, including payment, in exchange for OpenAI’s use of their works,” the filing states.

OpenAI’s Response

OpenAI defended its practices, stating its models are trained on publicly available data under principles of fair use and international copyright law. A company spokesperson highlighted its collaborative efforts with publishers, including offering mechanisms for opting out and attributing content in ChatGPT’s search features.

The lawsuit does not name Microsoft, OpenAI’s primary backer, which has been implicated in similar cases. Notably, Elon Musk recently expanded a separate lawsuit to include Microsoft, alleging monopolistic practices and illegal data acquisition for generative AI development.

Broader Implications

This case represents a critical juncture in the ongoing clash between AI companies and copyright owners. Similar lawsuits have been filed by authors, visual artists, and music publishers seeking to establish clearer legal boundaries around data use for AI training.

Recently, a New York federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against OpenAI brought by news outlets Raw Story and AlterNet. This decision may influence the Canadian court’s ruling, though Canadian copyright laws differ in scope and interpretation.

The outcome of this case could set a significant precedent for how AI companies interact with content creators and may prompt broader regulatory discussions around intellectual property rights in the digital age.

 

Orange Partners with OpenAI and Meta to Develop AI Models for African Languages

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French telecom giant Orange has announced a collaboration with OpenAI and Meta to create artificial intelligence (AI) models that cater specifically to regional African languages. This initiative aims to address the gap in AI systems’ understanding of lesser-represented languages, starting with Wolof and Pulaar, spoken by millions across West Africa.

Orange plans to leverage OpenAI’s Whisper and Meta’s Llama open-source models, fine-tuning them to recognize and process these languages. According to Steve Jarrett, Orange’s chief AI officer, global AI systems often fail to understand African text and voice communications due to the lack of culturally and linguistically relevant training data.

“By fine-tuning open models, we introduce additional information, enabling AI systems to understand West African regional languages that are currently ignored by mainstream AI,” Jarrett explained.

Rollout and Focus on West Africa

The first phase of this initiative will integrate Wolof and Pulaar into Orange’s AI models by early 2025. Wolof is predominantly spoken in Senegal, the Gambia, and southern Mauritania, while Pulaar is common in Senegal. The project will expand to cover all 18 West African countries where Orange operates.

Orange will provide these customized AI models under a free license for non-commercial applications like public health and education. This approach aligns with the company’s commitment to enhancing accessibility and addressing unmet needs in the region.

Sovereign AI and Localization

The project reflects a growing global trend toward “sovereign AI,” emphasizing localized data processing and infrastructure. By hosting OpenAI’s systems in European data centers, Orange seeks to ensure secure data handling while accessing advanced AI capabilities. The company’s initiative also promotes cultural and linguistic representation, helping to build systems that resonate with local contexts.

Jarrett stressed the importance of using AI responsibly, balancing innovation with environmental concerns. The models will focus on targeted applications, avoiding the extensive energy demands of massive language models when unnecessary.

Broader Applications

Beyond language processing, Orange is integrating AI into its core business operations. The company uses AI to optimize its mobile networks, identifying and predicting failures before customers are affected. Additionally, AI-driven voice systems are being developed to improve customer service across its contact centers.

This partnership represents a step toward bridging the technological gap for underrepresented regions, fostering greater inclusivity in the global AI landscape.

 

OpenAI’s Upcoming Flagship AI Model Faces Challenges in Surpassing Older Models on Some Tasks, Report Says

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OpenAI is reportedly encountering challenges with the development of its next-generation flagship AI model, codenamed Orion. Despite expectations, the new model has shown mixed results in its performance, especially when compared to older models like GPT-4. According to a recent report, while Orion is said to outperform previous models in language-based tasks, it has struggled to show significant improvements in other areas, such as coding. This discrepancy in performance across different types of tasks has raised concerns within the company about whether the model can meet the ambitious goals set for it.

The Information, citing anonymous sources within OpenAI, highlights that Orion has demonstrated notable advancements in tasks involving natural language processing, but its performance in coding-related tasks has not lived up to expectations. This has been a source of frustration for the team, as coding is a key use case for many businesses and developers relying on OpenAI’s models for automation and programming assistance. The inability to substantially outperform older models in this area is seen as a critical issue for Orion’s potential adoption.

Compounding the issue, Orion’s higher operational costs are another factor that could hinder its success. The model is reportedly more expensive to run in OpenAI’s data centers compared to GPT-4 and GPT-4o. This increased cost, combined with its underperformance in certain tasks, raises concerns about the cost-to-performance ratio of Orion. If the model cannot deliver a clear advantage in multiple areas, it may struggle to attract enterprise clients and subscribers, who are looking for value and efficiency in AI solutions.

In addition to performance concerns, OpenAI is also reportedly facing difficulties in gathering enough training data to effectively train Orion. Data scarcity is a well-known challenge for AI development, and without sufficient high-quality data, even the most advanced models can fall short of expectations. These ongoing struggles suggest that OpenAI’s efforts to push the boundaries of AI with Orion might face significant delays or require further refinements before it can rival or surpass its predecessors.