A lawsuit on behalf of a group of plaintiff artists has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against three companies: Stability AI, DeviantArt, and Midjourney, over the alleged infringement of the copyright of the artists in the creation of so-called "artificial intelligence" art."As burgeoning technology continues to change every aspect of the modern world, it's critical that we recognize and protect the rights of artists against unlawful theft and fraud. This case represents a larger fight for preserving ownership rights for all artists and other creators." said Joseph Saveri, founder of the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, LLP, who is representing the plaintiffs along with Matthew Butterick, and Lockridge, Grindal, Nauen P.L.L.P.RELATED: AI-Created Comic Could Be Deemed Ineligible for Copyright Protection

The three companies all share the use of Stable Diffusion, an artificial intelligence product that was based on the billion of images contained in the LAION-5B dataset. The lawsuit alleges that there are billions of copyrighted images involved in the creation of Stable Diffusion. Therefore, the lawsuit alleges the use of those images leads to direct copyright infringement, vicarious copyright infringement related to forgeries, violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), violation of class members' rights of publicity, breach of contract related to the DeviantArt Terms of Service, and various violations of California's unfair competition laws.

Not only is the lawsuit seeking damages for the alleged violations, but want an injunction to avoid future problems until some sort of system could be created that would allow for artists to be fairly compensated for their artwork being used in "A.I. art." As the claim alleges, music streaming services have found a way to compensate musical artists, so there should be a way for this to work, as well.

RELATED: The Comics Industry Takes A Collective Stance Against AI Art Usage

One of the Plaintiffs Speaks Out About the Case

One of the artist plaintiffs in the case, Karla Ortiz, took to social media to discuss her excitement about the lawsuit.

She noted, "I am proud to be one of the plaintiffs named for this class action suit. I am proud to do this with fellow peers, that we’ll give a voice to potentially thousands of affected artists. I'm proud that now we fight for our rights not just in the public sphere but in the courts!"

Source: Joseph Saveri Law Firm, LLP