AI Caramba Pt. 2!

On April 1, 2024, a federal court in New York denied a group of California authors’ request to intervene in the New York litigation against AI companies for the alleged unlawful use of their intellectual property to train their AI platforms. The authors in the California action sought to prevent the later-filed New York actions from proceeding against the same AI entities simultaneously, requesting that the putative New York class actions either be dismissed or transferred to California. Judge Stein of the Southern District of New York refused to dismiss or transfer the New York actions, finding that because no class has been certified in any of the actions, it was premature to determine whether the California authors’ interests would be affected by the New York actions at all, and if so, whether such hypothetical interests would be impaired or impeded. It remains to be seen whether and how these putative class actions brought by authors and other creators against AI entities across the country will proceed and even more importantly, shape the future of AI.