Stability AI & Midjourney Are Being Sued For Copyright Violations

The class-action lawsuit filed by three artists alleges that Sta­ble Dif­fu­sion has been trained on stolen intellectual property.

The ongoing confrontation between Digital Artists and AI continues with three artists launching a class-action lawsuit against Stability AI, the developers of Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and a portfolio platform DeviantArt, which recently released DreamUp, a paid app built around Sta­ble Dif­fu­sion. The suit alleges that the AI generators in question have been trained on stolen intellectual property and violated copyright laws on multiple occasions by using the artists' works without their consent.

The suit, filed by lawyer Matthew Butterick, has been brought forward by artists Karla Ortiz, Kelly McKernan, and Sarah Andersen, who claim that generative AIs affected "thou­sands – pos­si­bly mil­lions – of fel­low artists".

According to a lengthy blog post shared by Butterick, the plaintiffs act on behalf of creators "con­cerned about AI sys­tems being trained on vast amounts of copy­righted work with no con­sent and no credit".

You can learn more about the lawsuit here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform, our Reddit page, and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.

Published 17 January 2023
Theodore McKenzie
Head of Content