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Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI training
The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging copyright infringement. The news organizations claim the companies used web scraping to collect their journalistic content, including material behind paywalls, to train and operate AI systems such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Bing AI.
The plaintiffs argue that these AI tools can reproduce or closely paraphrase their reporting, which reduces the need for users to visit original news sites or purchase subscriptions, thereby harming their business models. In addition to financial compensation, the newspapers are seeking a court order for the destruction of the infringing copies, datasets, and the AI models that incorporate their content. The lawsuit also includes allegations of trademark dilution resulting from fabricated content attributed to the news outlets.
OpenAI has maintained that its models are trained on publicly available data and that such practices fall under the fair use doctrine. Microsoft expressed surprise at the legal action but stated a willingness to discuss potential solutions with publishers. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest supporting OpenAI, arguing that restricting AI training on copyrighted material could hinder scientific progress, economic growth, and national security.
Entities
Microsoft · Newsday · OpenAI · The New York Times · The Seattle Times · U.S. Department of Justice · U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 13 SOURCES] The companies allegedly scraped content from news websites, including material behind paywalls. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +7 more
- [● 13 SOURCES] The newspapers claim AI products can reproduce or closely paraphrase their reporting. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +7 more
- [● 13 SOURCES] OpenAI and Microsoft allegedly copied journalism without permission to train AI systems. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +7 more
- [● 13 SOURCES] The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +7 more
- [● 12 SOURCES] Microsoft expressed surprise at the lawsuit but stated a willingness to seek solutions regarding local journalism. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +6 more
- [● 5 SOURCES] The New York Times filed a similar lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023. srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · cyprus-mail.com
- [● 13 SOURCES] The plaintiffs are seeking an order for the destruction of infringing copies, datasets, and AI models. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +7 more
- [● 12 SOURCES] OpenAI claims its models are trained on publicly available data and fall under fair use. valor.globo.com · srnnews.com · china.timesofnews.com · www.ithome.com · www.newsbytesapp.com · +6 more
- [● 2 SOURCES] The lawsuit includes allegations of trademark dilution through fabricated content. www.blogspan.net · www.newsday.com
- [● 4 SOURCES] The news organizations previously received funding from Microsoft and OpenAI through a $10 million AI fellowship. www.blogspan.net · www.it-boltwise.de · diginoy.com
- [● 6 SOURCES] The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest supporting OpenAI, arguing that AI training constitutes fair use. hnd.hr · www.sourcetrail.com · ca.news.yahoo.com · kuruc.info · arynews.tv · +1 more