New York Times Sues OpenAI, Microsoft For Copyright Infringement

The New York Times has initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI and Microsoft, marking a significant development in the ongoing legal clash concerning the unauthorized use of published content for training artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

This lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday, alleges that millions of articles published by The Times were employed in training automated chatbots, positioning them as competitors to the news outlet in providing reliable information.

The suit refrains from specifying a monetary demand but insists that the defendants should be held accountable for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” tied to the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” Additionally, it calls for the destruction of any chatbot models and training data incorporating copyrighted material from The Times.

This legal action could profoundly impact the news industry, serving as a pivotal test for the legal boundaries surrounding generative A.I. technologies, known for creating content after learning from extensive datasets. The Times, a leading player in online journalism, raises concerns about these A.I. systems siphoning traffic away from its website, potentially affecting revenue derived from advertising and subscriptions.

While concerns about uncompensated use of intellectual property by AI systems have rippled through various creative industries, this lawsuit marks a significant escalation. The Times joins other individuals and entities like actress Sarah Silverman and novelists Jonathan Franzen and John Grisham in pursuing legal action over A.I.’s use of their copyrighted material.

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Negotiations between The Times, Microsoft, and OpenAI apparently reached an impasse, prompting this legal move. The lawsuit paints A.I. systems like ChatGPT as prospective competitors in the news arena, citing instances where chatbots provided verbatim excerpts from Times articles to users, content that typically requires a paid subscription to access.

This legal battle underscores broader industry concerns about protecting intellectual property in the age of generative A.I. Both media organizations and tech firms are navigating these uncharted legal waters, seeking to strike a balance between innovation and the protection of original content.

The Times has enlisted Susman Godfrey, known for representing Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation case against Fox News, as its lead outside counsel for this litigation. This move signifies the seriousness with which The Times is pursuing this legal challenge against OpenAI and Microsoft.