Authors Guild v. OpenAI
Authors Guild v. OpenAI — Class Action by Fiction Authors (S.D.N.Y.)
S.D.N.Y. · Authors Guild v. OpenAI Inc., No. 1:23-cv-08292 (S.D.N.Y.)
- Status
- Blocked / in litigation
- Took effect
- September 19, 2023
- Applies to
- OpenAI, Inc. and affiliated entities; Microsoft Corp.
The Authors Guild plus 17 prominent fiction authors (George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Connelly, and others) sued OpenAI alleging it copied their books wholesale to train GPT. Filed September 2023, the case was consolidated with related author suits under Judge Sidney Stein.
Who is protected: Published fiction authors and the broader class of book authors whose works appear in the training corpora
Legal detail
Authors Guild v. OpenAI Inc., No. 1:23-cv-08292 (S.D.N.Y., filed Sept. 19, 2023; Judge Sidney H. Stein). Putative class action for direct, vicarious, and contributory copyright infringement based on alleged use of Books2 / Books3 / shadow-library corpora to train GPT-3.5 and GPT-4. Consolidated with Alter v. OpenAI (1:23-cv-10211) and related actions. Microsoft added as defendant April 2024. Discovery ongoing as of June 2026.
Key facts
| Jurisdiction | S.D.N.Y. |
|---|---|
| Level | Federal |
| Citation | Authors Guild v. OpenAI Inc., No. 1:23-cv-08292 (S.D.N.Y.) |
| Topics | copyright and training data |
| Court record | Authors Guild v. OpenAI — CourtListener 1:23-cv-08292 |
More AI rules in S.D.N.Y.
- UAW v. State Dept — social media surveillance suit survives dismissal · Blocked / in litigation
- NYT v. OpenAI / Microsoft · Blocked / in litigation
- CIR v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Daily News v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Intercept v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- UMG v. Udio · Blocked / in litigation
Related copyright and training data rules elsewhere
- Hachette v. Google (Gemini AI copyright) · Blocked / in litigation
- New York Stealth Crawler Prohibition Act (2026) · Proposed / pending
- Copyright Office AI Guidance · In effect
- USPTO AI Inventorship Guidance · Repealed / replaced
- Tremblay v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
- Silverman v. OpenAI · Blocked / in litigation
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