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Microsoft and OpenAI face scrutiny over internal AI training warnings
Newly unsealed court documents from a copyright lawsuit involving The New York Times, OpenAI, and Microsoft reveal significant internal concerns regarding the use of news content for AI training. Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht described the mass scraping of news articles as 'the largest theft of labor in human history' and a 'doom loop' that threatens the economic foundations of the content supply chain. Internal data indicated that Microsoft Copilot usage caused click-through rates to New York Times pages to drop by as much as 93% compared to traditional search.
OpenAI leadership also expressed private alarms. ChatGPT lead Nick Turley noted that AI products are becoming increasingly 'substitutive' for original journalism, posing an 'existential threat' to publishers. Documents also suggest a casual attitude toward paywalls, noting that OpenAI President Greg Brockman responded 'ah nice' when informed of a method to bypass The New York Times' paywall.
While the companies publicly maintain that their practices constitute 'fair use' and are transformative in nature, the unsealed filings provide direct evidence of internal friction and recognition of the potential devastation to the media industry. The litigation, which now includes over 550 publishers, seeks to determine the legality of using copyrighted material to train large language models without compensation.
Entities
Brent Hecht · Microsoft · OpenAI · Platkin LLP · Satya Nadella · The New York Times · The Shoestring
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 5 SOURCES] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified that paywalled content should be licensed for AI training. pulptastic.com · www.eeo.com.cn · www.ad-hoc-news.de · wwwhatsnew.com · nypost.com
- [● 8 SOURCES] OpenAI's Nick Turley acknowledged internally that AI products pose an 'existential threat' to publishers as they become more substitutive. pulptastic.com · www.eeo.com.cn · www.ad-hoc-news.de · www.upday.com · wwwhatsnew.com · +3 more
- [○ 1 SOURCE] More than 550 publishers have joined the litigation against OpenAI and Microsoft. www.cryptopolitan.com
- [● 2 SOURCES] OpenAI President Greg Brockman reportedly responded 'ah nice' when informed of a way to bypass the New York Times paywall. pulptastic.com · www.eeo.com.cn
- [● 9 SOURCES] Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht described AI web scraping as potentially the largest theft of labor in human history. pulptastic.com · www.ad-hoc-news.de · time.news · www.upday.com · wwwhatsnew.com · +4 more
- [● 6 SOURCES] Microsoft data showed click-through rates to New York Times pages dropped by 83% to 93% when using Copilot compared to traditional search. pulptastic.com · www.eeo.com.cn · www.ad-hoc-news.de · time.news · www.upday.com · +1 more