OpenAI and Microsoft face legal heat from news publishers over copyright infringement claims
Follow UsOpenAI and Microsoft are facing a new legal challenge from two major US news organisations over alleged use of their journalism to train AI systems.
The Seattle Times and Newsday accused the companies of copying their articles without permission and using them to train and operate AI products.
The newspapers claimed their websites were scrapped, including content available only to paying subscribers
OpenAI and Microsoft are facing a new legal challenge from two major US news organisations over alleged use of their journalism to train AI systems. The Seattle Times and Newsday accused the companies of copying their articles without permission and using them to train and operate AI products, reports Reuters. The newspapers claimed their websites were scrapped, including content available only to paying subscribers. They also argued that AI tools can reproduce or closely rewrite their work. According to the publishers, this could reduce the need for readers to visit their websites or pay for subscriptions.
SurveyThe lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The news publishers claimed that OpenAI and Microsoft used their content in datasets linked to products such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and AI features in Bing.
The publishers also said that their journalism is expensive to produce. They argued that using their work without permission or payment hurts their businesses. “We feel strongly that we must defend our content – which we spend millions of dollars a year to produce – from being used without our consent or compensation,” Seattle Times President and CEO Alan Fisco wrote to employees, as per the report.
OpenAI rejected the idea that it had acted outside copyright law. A company spokesperson argued that its AI models are trained using publicly available information and are based on fair use.
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Microsoft also responded to the case. The company said it was surprised by the lawsuit but recognised the importance of local news organisations. “While we’re surprised by the lawsuit, we appreciate the importance of local journalism and we’re always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type of dispute,” a Microsoft spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.
The Seattle Times and Newsday are asking the court to order the companies to destroy copies of their work. They also want the destruction of training datasets and AI models that contain their copyrighted material.
The New York Times filed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023. That case is still ongoing. Several other copyright owners have also taken legal action against AI companies.
