Did OpenAI ask all of the authors of the works they ingested to train their model for permission? Is OpenAI the biggest copyrighted works launderer in existence?

I don't think OpenAI should be able to make any claims of IP for the AI generated outputs, since they based that on other work, partially copyrighted work, which they hide. They simply throw algorithms at data that is not their data to begin with.

If I steal something, keep the exact thing I stole hidden, and sell a product, that I could only have made, based on the stolen thing, how can I expect that to be even legal, let alone untouchable IP?

I think way too many people have seen too many dollar signs in front of their eyes. The whole thing is outrageous. If they were transparently proving, that they are using open data sets, adhering to licenses, then they would get to claim IP.