OpenAI's new Sora AI video app rockets to the top of Apple's App Store as users flood the platform with videos featuring copyrighted characters like SpongeBob and Rick & Morty, forcing the company to scramble with copyright warnings after initially allowing widespread unauthorized use of protected intellectual property.
OpenAI launches Sora 2, an invite-only iOS app that generates realistic videos with dialogue from text prompts, sparking controversy as users immediately create deepfakes of SpongeBob, JFK, and Martin Luther King Jr., raising intellectual property concerns despite new content safeguards.
Character.AI removes Disney characters including Elsa, Darth Vader, and Spider-Man from its platform following Disney's cease-and-desist letter alleging unauthorized use of copyrighted characters in sexually exploitative chatbots, as the AI company faces multiple wrongful death lawsuits claiming its technology contributed to children's suicides and self-harm.
Disney forces Character.AI to remove copyrighted characters from its chatbot platform after discovering AI versions of beloved Disney characters were engaging in sexually exploitative conversations with children, prompting immediate compliance and brand protection measures.
Major AI companies including OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Stability AI face multiple copyright lawsuits across U.S. courts as publishers, artists, and content creators demand damages for allegedly using their copyrighted materials without permission to train generative AI models, with trials extending into 2027.
Microsoft becomes the first major tech company to launch a Publisher Content Marketplace, offering to pay select U.S. publishers for their content to train AI systems like Copilot, amid ongoing copyright lawsuits from major news organizations including the New York Times.
OpenAI's $3 billion acquisition of coding startup Windsurf ignites a major intellectual property dispute with Microsoft, as the AI giant refuses to grant its key partner equal access to the new technology despite their existing multibillion-dollar investment agreement, potentially threatening their crucial cloud alliance.
Penske Media Corporation, owner of publications like The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone, sues Google over alleged illegal use of its journalism for AI summaries, claiming reduced traffic in a potentially defining legal battle over AI and compensation.
Two leading Japanese newspapers, The Asahi Shimbun and Nikkei, sue U.S. AI firm Perplexity AI for $14.9 million each over alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted articles and spreading misinformation through its search engine.
Anthropic pays a record-breaking $1.5 billion settlement for using around 500,000 pirated books to train its AI systems, destroying all copies and prohibiting future use without permission.