New York Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over Unauthorized AI Use

(CTN News) – The New York Times has filed a lawsuit in a US court against OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming that the tech companies trained their artificial intelligence models using millions of unlicensed articles.

Both firms allegedly used The Times’ journalism in their AI chatbots without permission or payment, taking advantage of The Times’ substantial efforts in producing high-quality content, according to a complaint filed by The Times on Wednesday.

Publishers, musicians, and artists are increasingly turning to legal actions to guarantee proper remuneration for their content being used in technological advancements, making the issue of copyright a significant point of contention in the quickly expanding generative AI sector.

OpenAI and Microsoft face legal action from New York Times.

While other media outlets like the Associated Press and Germany’s Axel Springer have entered into content agreements with OpenAI, the New York Times took a more aggressive approach by suing in reaction to the growing popularity of AI chatbots.

With this case, the importance of protecting independent journalism was brought to light. It was emphasized that society would face serious consequences, including decreased journalistic output with far-reaching effects if news institutions like the New York Times cannot do so.

Both firms are ordered to stop utilizing The Times’ material for AI model training and to delete any data they have already collected as part of the legal case, which seeks damages. The Times speculated that losses could reach billions of dollars, while the precise number remains unknown.

Defending their use of the content, OpenAI and Microsoft said it was “transformative” technology, suggesting it did not require a commercial deal, despite efforts to negotiate a content agreement.

Using The New York Times’s content without remuneration to produce rival products was deemed unjustified, according to the complaint, which challenged this claim.

In addition, the lawsuit claimed that the AI-generated articles mimicked The New York Times’ style, sometimes citing incorrect facts from the respected news source, and that AI models were trained using decades’ worth of archival news.