The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for utilizing its published news articles to train AI chatbots without compensating the NYT for its intellectual property. This marks the first instance of a major news organization pursuing ChatGPT developers for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in a Federal District Court in Manhattan, seeks unspecified damages from the companies. The NYT claims that OpenAI and Microsoft’s chatbot products have utilized more than 66 million records of copyrighted content from the NYT’s websites and affiliated brands. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants have caused significant harm to the Times’ bottom line and that their products can produce output that mimics Times content. If successful, the lawsuit could pave the way for other publishers to take similar legal action and increase the cost of training AI models for commercial use. While it is uncertain whether the NYT is open to a licensing agreement, OpenAI has recently reached deals with other publishers for access to their content. Microsoft and OpenAI have not commented on the lawsuit.
Lawsuit Filed by The New York Times Against OpenAI and Microsoft for Copyright Infringement
