You can’t commercially use anything you train off OpenAI outputs.
It's like distributing GPL code in a nonfree application. Even if you didn't "consent to [the original author's] ToS," you are still going to be bound to it via the redistributors license.
In the context of the GPL, are there real examples of judgements which bind defendants to a license they never saw or knew anything about, because of the errant actions of an intermediary?
It gives OpenAI a legal basis to launch a law suit if they want to.
Would it succeed? Is it right? Do they care? Eh.
…but, if I as some random reddit user say I might sue you for making a LLM you for training on data that may or may not have my posts in it, you can probably safely ignore me.
If you go and build a massive LLM using high quality data that couldn’t possibly come from anywhere other than openai, and they have a log of all the content that api key XXX generated; they both know and have a legal basis for litigation.
There’s a difference, even if you’re a third party (not the owner of the api key) or don’t care.
(And I’m not saying they would, or even they would win; but it’s sufficient cause for them to be able to make a case if they want to)
A lot of behavior that rides this line is rationalized via a careful cost-benefit analysis.
"I don't think they'll be bothered chasing after me"
vs.
"If it came to it I think the court will rule that they don't have a case after we play the pay-the-lawyers-all-the-money game"
vs.
"how screwed am I if they do, I lose and I have clearly, blatantly and provably violated their terms of service"
^
...because, and this is the point I'm making. There is no question; it is very very obvious if you do this, and it's not very difficult for them to prove it.
All they need is to slap you with a discovery order, look at your training data, and compare it to their output logs.
The internet is increasingly covered with OpenAI's outputs and they do not have grounds for a claim to prevent people from using them.
OpenAI can’t just start suing random people on the street without any legal basis. That’s how lawyers become not-lawyers.
There’s only a (somewhat dubiously enforceable) ToS contract between OpenAI and the user of OpenAI’s website. This is probably bullshit too - what legitimate interest does OpenAI have in a model output that doesn’t even belong to them, but it’s less obviously bullshit.
> Restrictions. You may not (i) use the Services in a way that infringes, misappropriates or violates any person’s rights; (ii) reverse assemble, reverse compile, decompile, translate or otherwise attempt to discover the source code or underlying components of models, algorithms, and systems of the Services (except to the extent such restrictions are contrary to applicable law); (iii) use output from the Services to develop models that compete with OpenAI;
It can be argued that if you build a model using their outputs such that you can then stop using their API, your model is effectively competing with their’s.
Let’s just say that if you’re a startup or SMB, you do not want to be the one dragged to court to iron out whether this holds or not.