Tech Titans’ AI Legal Storms: Microsoft, Google, OpenAI & X Mixed In Lawsuits

AI technologies have come a long way from being a futuristic concept to a core part of our daily digital lives. Despite innovations and breakthroughs, the legal and ethical boundaries remain hotly contested.

Yesterday, we talked about how artificial intelligence is being more closely watched by regulators as major businesses and brands keep finding themselves on the wrong side of the ethical line.

Today, similar stories are coming in–only this time, in court.

This week has been an exhibit in AI's legal problems, with four Big Tech businesses—Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Elon Musk's X—involved in legal cases. With major businesses being sued in court cases, we could be on the cusp of a major change in the way artificial intelligence (AI) law is applied and upheld.

So, what is really going on? Let's take a look, starting with the AI privacy case against Microsoft and Google.  

Microsoft And Google Confronted By UK’s Largest AI Privacy Lawsuit

Over 20,000 people have hired the Manchester-based Barings Law to drag Microsoft and Google to court in a landmark case.

The plaintiffs claim that both companies illegally collected and used personal data, such as voices, images, and location data, to train their AI models like Google's Gemini without consent.

Barings Law officially informed both the technology giants that this could be the UK's first big data privacy case involving AI. The Head of Data Protection at Barings Law Adnan Malik said, "This is another step forward in what will no doubt be a landmark British case against two US technology giants."​

The company was also involved in other major data breach cases, such as the 2023 Capita cyber-attack, signaling its dedication to protecting data privacy.​  

Ziff Davis Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Copyright Infringement

OpenAI has been sued in a Delaware federal court by Ziff Davis, the parent company of digital media companies like IGN, PCMag, and CNET, over allegations of copyright infringement.


The media company claimed that OpenAI "intentionally and relentlessly" copied its material to train AI models, including ChatGPT, without permission. Ziff Davis also mentioned that OpenAI ignored its “robots.txt files,” put in place to stop data scraping, and copied copyrighted information.

The complainant wants OpenAI to stop using Ziff Davis's work, spanning 45 media brands and 2 million new articles every year, and delete any datasets or models that contain such information.

OpenAI replied that its models are trained on data that is open to the public, and that it follows fair use rules. It also emphasized that its AI models help people be more creative and come up with new ideas. OpenAI spokesperson Jason Deutrom told The Verge, “ChatGPT helps enhance human creativity, advance scientific discovery and medical research, and enable hundreds of millions of people to improve their daily lives.”

This is not the first time OpenAI has found itself on the wrong side of a copyright infringement lawsuit.  

Elon Musk's X Challenges Minnesota's Deepfake Law

X, Elon Musk's social media platform (formerly Twitter), has sued the state of Minnesota over a law that says AI-generated "deepfakes" can't be used to influence an election.

The company says the law violates the First Amendment and makes platforms "criminally responsible” for user-generated content, leading to too much control over political speech.

The case, filed in federal court in Minnesota, wants the law to be ruled as unconstitutional and stopped from being enforced. "This system will inevitably result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech and commentary," X mentioned in its legal complaint.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is named a defendant in the case, hasn’t commented on the case. However, this legal action by X underscores the delicate balance in combating misinformation while protecting free speech in the digital age.  

What Does All This Mean For AI Innovation?

With several high-profile names being named in lawsuits and court cases for their AI systems violating copyright laws, data privacy laws, and free speech. As the courts start to rule on these complicated issues soon, the outcomes could have a major and permanent impact on AI innovation. These recent lawsuits against AI giants will influence the development of AI models, data protection laws, and deepfakes.

Do you think these cases will lead to stricter rules on AI development and implementation?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below!