In an alarming legal challenge, former Amazon AI executive Dr. Viviane Ghaderi has accused the tech giant of urging her to overlook copyright infringement laws to keep pace with AI rivals. The lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles state court, opens a can of worms on the lengths to which companies may go in the fierce competition for AI dominance.
Dr. Ghaderi, who had a track record of success with Amazon’s Alexa and Large Language Models (LLM) teams, has brought forth claims of discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination alongside her core allegation of being pressured to breach copyright policy.
The lawsuit details Ghaderi’s trajectory within Amazon, noting her rise through the ranks until her disclosure of pregnancy. Upon her return from maternity leave in January 2023, she inherited a large language model project with the responsibility to identify and report violations of the company’s internal copyright regulations. However, she describes a chilling interaction where her concerns about potential infringements were dismissed by her team director, Andrey Styskin. The legal filings include Styskin’s reported advice to Ghaderi to disregard copyright concerns, claiming that “everyone else is doing it.”
Ghaderi’s complaint also sheds light on broader industry practices at a time when AI developers are under scrutiny for the use of copyrighted material in their training data. This has led to a series of lawsuits, such as the New York Times’ action against Microsoft and OpenAI, asserting unauthorized use of copyrighted articles.
Montana MacLachlan, a spokesperson for Amazon, has stated, “We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation in our workplace. We investigate any reports of such conduct and take appropriate action against anyone found to have violated our policies.”
The broader implications of the allegations are significant as they come at a crossroads for AI ethics and legality. Ghaderi’s experience, if substantiated, highlights a challenging aspect of AI development—the tension between the rapid advancement of technology and adherence to copyright and regulatory compliance.
The lawsuit brings to the forefront the dire consequences faced by Ghaderi post-disclosure of her pregnancy, outlining a series of alleged discriminatory remarks and actions that culminated in her demotion and eventual dismissal. Specifically, the filing recounts a situation where Ghaderi was informed by Daniel Marcu, her supervisor, that her reporting structure would be temporarily changed as he did not want to “worry” about managing her team during her leave. This encounter marked the beginning of a series of events that Ghaderi claims derailed her career trajectory at Amazon.
Dr. Ghaderi’s filing presents a multi-faceted legal challenge, covering alleged sex discrimination, pregnancy leave law violations, harassment, retaliation protection failure, and the prevention of discrimination and protection for whistleblowers. The case has garnered attention, not only for its implications for Amazon’s workplace policies but also for its potential to impact the broader discourse on AI development ethics and competitiveness.
Relevant articles:
– Ex-Amazon exec claims she was asked to ignore copyright law in race to AI, theregister.com, 04/27/2024
– Amazon to ditch WorkDocs sharing service, The Register, Fri, 26 Apr 2024 18:00:00 GMT
– Amazon AI team flouted copyright laws to win arms race – former AI lead dev, Notebookcheck.net, Fri, 26 Apr 2024 00:16:17 GMT
– Microsoft and Amazon’s AI ambitions spark regulatory rumble, The Register, Thu, 25 Apr 2024 09:34:00 GMT
– Lawsuit: Amazon AI Exec Was Pressured to Ignore Copyright Violations, Breitbart, Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:35:54 GMT