The New York Times (NYT) has taken legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement for using its published news articles to train AI chatbots without an agreement compensating the NYT for its intellectual property. Filed in a Federal District Court in Manhattan, this lawsuit is a notable instance of a major news organization pursuing developers for copyright infringement related to AI, specifically targeting OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot. While the NYT did not specify the compensation sought, the lawsuit emphasizes holding the companies responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.”
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The NYT contends that OpenAI and Microsoft, creators of ChatGPT and Copilot, aim to leverage the NYT’s substantial journalistic investment without obtaining licensing agreements. The complaint highlights that the NYT’s domain (www.nytimes.com) was the most frequently used proprietary source for content training GPT-3. Over 66 million records, spanning breaking news articles to op-eds from the NYT and affiliated brands, were allegedly used to train AI models. The lawsuit claims the defendants used “almost a century’s worth of copyrighted content,” causing significant financial harm to the NYT. It further asserts that the AI models can generate output closely resembling and mimicking the expressive style of NYT content, echoing complaints from comedians and authors who claim OpenAI has profited from their works.
OpenAI responded, expressing respect for content creators’ rights and commitment to collaboration for mutual benefit. The company revealed ongoing “productive conversations” with the NYT, expressing surprise and disappointment at the lawsuit, while remaining hopeful for a “mutually beneficial way to work together.”
The lawsuit, if successful, could set a precedent for other publishers to pursue similar legal actions, potentially making the commercial use of AI models more expensive. Competitors like CNN and BBC News have already attempted to limit data accessible to AI web crawlers for training, signaling a broader industry concern.
While the NYT’s openness to a licensing agreement remains unclear after failed negotiations, OpenAI has recently reached deals to access content. Agreements with Axel Springer and news outlets like Politico and Business Insider demonstrate a willingness to pay for content access. OpenAI previously secured a deal with the AP for the use of archival content, dating back to 1985. Microsoft did not provide a comment in response to requests.
