Axel Scheffler considers legal action over AI images of The Gruffalo

When prompted for a Gruffalo image, ChatGPT produces similar images within minutes, according to the Yahoo report; Heise says similar results can appear within a minute.[1][2] Scheffler said he was appalled because the generated image was clearly his character, even though its backgrounds differed from his drawings.[1] The report also says Scheffler works using traditional methods.[1] The accounts describe a particular prompt and his response to the output; they do not establish a court finding about how the image was produced or whether copyright was infringed.

Penguin Random House has filed suit against OpenAI, and Heise describes it as the first European book publisher to take legal action against the company.[1][2] The publisher alleges that ChatGPT reproduces recognizable material from Siegner’s protected works in response to simple prompts and generates illustrations closely resembling his character.[3] It also alleges that ChatGPT offers to create a print-ready manuscript, cover, promotional copy and self-publishing instructions.[3] These are allegations by the publisher, not findings established in the evidence.

OpenAI says it is investigating the allegations and respects the rights of creators and content owners.[1] The company also says it is in productive discussions with publishers around the world so they can benefit from its technology.[1] Publishers, studios and authors have sued OpenAI and other AI firms, alleging that their intellectual property was unlawfully used to train AI systems.[1] The disputes also include a case in which Germany’s GEMA collecting society prevailed against OpenAI over song lyrics.[1] Heise reports that OpenAI’s response argues that AI does not store data like a conventional database and that language models learn patterns and relationships to generate new content.[2]