Mumsnet sues OpenAI and wants the information deleted

Those who have followed the development of ChatGPT know that it is a chatbot using OpenAI software which has hoovered up from the internet billions of words of useful information contained on millions of websites and which it reformats and presents in answers to questions posed to it by internet users who would normally have used Google or Bing search and visited a website for the information such as mumsnet.com which is why mumsnet.com is suing OpenAi for breach of copyright. And they want their data deleted and a cessation to its use. Microsoft has a 49% stake in OpenAI - see more at base of page.

Others are also suing, including The New York Times and the Writers Guild of America.

OpenAI has hoovered up website information by Michael Broad

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Julia Roberts, CEO of mumsnet.com said:

They [OpenAI] are basically hoovering up the whole web. And I think it's an existential threat to lots of small websites. What they are building is things that can answer questions without you having to visit those websites.

Precisely, I have been saying that (as have millions of others) for ages. The current situation is a killer for websites and frankly website owners are too passive. They need to form a 'union' to fight the big, bad corporations.

Mumsnet claim that ChatAI has 'scraped' (like scraping a barrel) six billion words from its website without permission resulting in a genuine threat to the very existence of mumsnet.com.

Think of the tasty food as tasty internet information and the spoon as OpenAI 😎👍

ChatAI claim that they have 'trained' their software using the information and 'training' is not breach of copyright (laugh 😀🤣). Microsoft also argues that their actions were lawful under the US doctrine of 'fair dealing'. 

Mumsnet is also claiming for breach of terms of use and database rights infringement.  They also argue that there is no 'fair dealing' doctrine in the UK where mumsnet is based.

Comment: What about the other AI chatbots? There is Google's Gemini and Poe and Bing's Copilot? Is mumsnet suing them as well because all of them have allegedly 'stolen' billions of lines of data on the internet.

And, yes, mumsnet.com is correct. All independent websites have suffered a double whammy shock both with the aforesaid problem with AI chatbots which means internet users avoid visiting websites and with Google's vicious and catastrophically damaging algorithm change which has crucified millions of smaller websites.

Also Google emphasised the need to fully meet their Search Engine Console Core Vitals metrics in order to achieve good search results but in my first hand experience this is simply not true. Your website can have perfect Core Vitals and great content but still be shunned by Google search. 

Conversely you can have crap Core Vitals and be successful.

It is troubling times for websites and I wonder why Google think that it is a good idea to kill-off websites. Also ChatGPT works against Google Adsense as there are less visits on the face of it.

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More info on OpenAI:

OpenAI is an American research company focused on artificial intelligence (AI). Their goal is to ensure that AI, specifically artificial general intelligence (AGI), is developed in a way that benefits humanity [OpenAI: Artificial intelligence company]. AGI is a hypothetical type of AI that would be as intelligent as a human, able to perform any intellectual task that a human can.

OpenAI conducts research on safe and beneficial AGI, with the aim of making sure this powerful technology is used for good [OpenAI: Artificial intelligence company]. They believe that AI has the potential to be incredibly beneficial to society, but also recognize the potential risks. Their research focuses on developing AI that is aligned with human values and that won't pose a threat.  

Ownership of OpenAI:

OpenAI has a unique ownership structure. Here's the breakdown:

• Microsoft is the biggest stakeholder, owning around **49%** of the company. They've invested heavily in OpenAI, providing both funding (over $13 billion) and computational resources through their Azure cloud platform [Wikipedia: OpenAI].
• The remaining 49% is divided among other investors. Some notable names include venture capital firms like a16z, Sequoia Capital, and Founders Fund [Techopedia: Who Owns OpenAI? Here's All You Need to Know].
• It's important to note that there's also a non-profit arm, OpenAI Inc., which retains some control and aims to preserve the organization's original goals [Wikipedia: OpenAI].
• So, while Microsoft has a significant stake, OpenAI isn't solely owned by a single entity. It's a collaboration between a tech giant, investors, and a non-profit organization. 

The above information comes from Gemini. I can't see how it can benefit humanity when it kills off websites and harms many thousands of small businesses dependent on internet traffic via Google search.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

The reason why website readers really must accept adverts

A lot of people find the adverts on my websites and other sites irritating. One visitor said that she found the website hard to read because of the adverts which was a distinct exaggeration. However, it is a point, and it needs to be discussed. I will tell you why adverts are essential and why visitors to websites 'must' accept them and even click on them.

Google Ads are a force for good in one way. The support the 'independent websites' which provide a valuable contribution to the internet. Image: Google.

On a personal level, I have spent tens of thousands of hours and spent many thousands of pounds and dollars in running PoC and ancillary websites like this one. I don't get paid a penny but if I was paid the minimum wage, I would have earned tens of thousands of pounds.

The overall cost over the 15 years of the websites would be somewhere around £250,000+ at a rough calculation if you add in the minimum wage payment. The Google adverts bring in a relatively small income. Nowadays it is around £500-£900 per month. The company which hosts the site charge £80 per month.

So those are the raw facts. Without the adverts I'd have to take a massive loss payable out of my savings or charge a visitation fee. If I charged a fee to visit the site's viewing figures would drop pretty dramatically because no one else is charging except the large news media companies. 

All PoC traffic would go elsewhere to websites like Wikipedia. So, adverts help to keep independent website alive. By 'independent' websites I mean those owned and managed by a person and not a group or a business.

Without ads there would be no websites owned and run by single individuals working alone. I think that would be a big loss to the internet. I would not continue if there were no ads. In fact, I would not have started.

Do you want the internet to be dominated by big corporations who charge for entry to their sites?

Visitors should payback what they have learned from visiting these independent sites by clicking on an advert. You don't have to buy anything. Just click on the ad and see the product. You may make a purchase and at the same time the website owner earns a tiny bit of money (around 10 pence).

It is a small price, and the inconvenience of ads are also a small price to pay for free information. The ad blocker businesses are wrong. They are predatory and damaging to the internet. I know Google and other businesses make pots of dosh from ads but that's the nature of capitalism. 

I believe that all internet users should support the independent websites as it supports free speech and it helps to provide checks and balances against the corporations who, for me. are often unconcerned about animal welfare.

The major reason why the Internet is expanding rapidly and continuously

The major reason why the Internet is expanding rapidly and continuously is because Google wants it to be like that as they can make more money if the Internet is bigger. And the way they encourage the Internet to grow so rapidly is because their search engine penalises websites that do not constantly add fresh pages.

If you leave a website alone for several months it will basically die because Google's search engine will stop finding it or find it less often. Conversely, if you constantly add to a website with fresh pages Google's search engine likes it and it will tend to find the site more often. It will rank the pages higher in search results. The more pages you can add the better the search results will be provided the content is good. It's pretty much as simple as that.

So Google dictates the Internet. They manage it and what they want they get. If they want an expanding Internet they can manage that through their search engine as described. This is not a criticism of Google. If anything it is praising Google because it is probably a good thing that it does expand as by and large the Internet is beneficial to people.

It is interesting, though, to speculate how things could have been different. If Google's search engine rewarded sites which had been dormant for a year by ranking them at the top of the search results, Internet expansion would come to a grinding halt quite quickly. The whole complexion of the Internet, of how we live, and such phenomenon as social media online would have been entirely different if Google had set up their search engine differently. It's a thought worth bearing in mind because it is at the foundation of how we use the Internet. And that greatly affects our lives.