GitHub Is a code hosting platform, Has been acquired by Microsoft. Microsoft first revealed it in its latest quarterly report GitHub Revenue and subscription data. GitHub superior Copilot Is an AI-based pair programming service, It has been very popular with the public.

GitHub The current income is now 10 Billions of dollars, Higher than when it was acquired 2 Hundred million to 3 Billions of dollars. The platform now owns 9000 Ten thousand active users, Higher than last year 11 lunar 7300 wan. Much of the growth in revenue and user data is due to Copilot.

when Copilot When first introduced, People began to worry, Because its machine learning model is based on artificial intelligence companies OpenAI the Codex system, Includes copyrighted code. After all, Codex Using billions of lines of publicly available source code for training, include GitHub Code in the common repository on.

A few days ago, As a lawyer, Matthew for designers and developers．Buttrick (Matthew Butterick) Announced that he is working with class action law firm Joseph Saveri & Co (Joseph Saveri Law Firm) cooperation, To investigate GitHub The possibility of bringing a copyright action.

now, This possibility has become a reality. 11 month 3 day, They filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft and its partners in the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California. They say Copilot It's a system based on artificial intelligence, Use publicly available open source licensed code for training. although GitHub It claims to generate more than just code copies for programmers, But the lawsuit says that's exactly what happened. Plaintiff claims: "The defendant alleges Codex and Copilot No copies of the materials on which they were trained were kept. however, In practice, The output is often almost identical to code derived from training data. "

In short, They claim that Copilot Just a copycat who infringes copyright. Microsoft can't argue with these facts. Copilot Open source-based. The real question is whether their actions violate the copyright of the code. is "Fair use" Or intellectual property theft? This is a complicated problem, It will not be resolved quickly. Bartlick representation: "This is the first step in a long journey. As far as we know, The lawsuit is the first class-action lawsuit in the United States challenging the training and export of artificial intelligence systems. It won't be the last. Ai systems are not exempt from legal liability. The people who create and operate these systems must be accountable. "

GitHub claim, "We've been working with them since the beginning Copilot Innovate responsibly together, And will continue to develop products, Provide the best service to developers around the world. " Microsoft and OpenAI Has not commented on the lawsuit. At the same time, Opensource leaders are still considering all the consequences of the lawsuit. Open Source Initiative (OSI) Senior Simon．Phipps (Simon Phipps) mention, He thinks "The only conclusion we can draw at this point is, Legal uncertainty makes Copilot Not suitable for open source projects" . Association for the Protection of Software Freedom (SFC) interpretation, The problem is scary and important, Not simple. For example, An important principle of open source licensing is this "Community-oriented law enforcement must not prioritize economic interests" . By its very nature, Class actions tend to favor monetary damages. SFC Hope the plaintiff "Endorse these principles. We do share your frustration and anger, Because Microsoft's GitHub Have been infringing, Microsoft and GitHub Refusing to work with the community to deal with it undermines free and open source software (FOSS) Activity and unprecedented licensing violations. FOSS Licensing is not primarily about business models or financial recovery. GitHub right Copilot The action taken was offensive, Mainly because it seeks to undermine the specially designed General Public License (copyleft) system, The system is designed to ensure users, Developers and consumers have equal rights. for Copilot User speaking, The danger can also be great. If the plaintiff sues GitHub The case was won, Every piece of code generated using it may be subject to various open source licenses. This lawsuit——win, Lose or lose——Will change people's use of open source software and artificial intelligence／The way machines learn.

(Compiled from www. theregister. com)

Reprinted from China Intellectual Property Network   translation: Rason group　proofread: Liu Peng

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