Shruti Suman
The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in a U.S. court, claiming copyright infringement and seeking damages for the unauthorized use of its content in the training of powerful AI models. The lawsuit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, alleges that the companies utilized millions of New York Times articles without permission to train their AI systems. Although the exact monetary demand is unspecified, the lawsuit contends that the defendants should be held liable for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” due to the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.”
The complaint asserts that while the companies sourced information from various outlets for their AI models, they gave particular emphasis to New York Times content, exploiting the newspaper’s significant investment in journalism without authorization or compensation. It claims that ChatGPT, the AI tool developed by OpenAI, now competes with the New York Times as a reliable information source, generating “verbatim excerpts” from Times articles for certain queries.
The lawsuit highlights the vital role of the Times’s independent journalism in democracy and argues that the “unlawful use” of its copyrighted material to develop AI products jeopardizes the newspaper’s ability to provide its services. The Times had reportedly initiated negotiations with OpenAI and Microsoft months ago, seeking fair compensation and agreement terms, but claims to have been unsuccessful in reaching a resolution.
According to the complaint, Microsoft and OpenAI argue that their use of the Times’s works falls under “fair use,” allowing the use of copyrighted material for transformative purposes. However, the Times strongly disputes this claim, asserting that the AI models produced by the defendants directly compete with and mimic the newspaper’s inputs, making the use of Times works for training purposes not qualify as fair use.
This legal action makes the New York Times the first major American media organization to sue AI companies, including the creators of ChatGPT, over copyright issues related to their use of written works.
