Canadian media companies launch legal action against OpenAI

In this Financial Post article, Sana Halwani, lead counsel for Torstar, The Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail, CBC/Radio-Canada and Postmedia Network Inc, comments on why Canada's leading news media copmanies have launched a legal action against OpenAI.

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Sana Halwani, partner at Lenczner Slaght LLP and the lead counsel of the legal action in Canada: “Rather than seek to obtain the Canadian news media companies’ content legally, through such agreements, OpenAI has elected to brazenly misappropriate it.”

While the amount of compensation hasn’t been “quantified yet,” there is a minimum of 16 million pieces of work that could be at issue here, Halwani said. “The damages could easily amount to billions of dollars,” she said.

“The news media companies simply want to be compensated for what OpenAI has taken,” Halwani said. One of the options for payment mentioned in the court document in this regard amounts to $20,000 per work or an amount “the court considers just.”