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Seattle Times, Newsday sue OpenAI, Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement
The newspapers say the companies used paywalled reporting to train chatbots that can reproduce passages and undercut subscriptions, while seeking damages and model destruction.
On Friday, Microsoft and news organizations including The Seattle Times and Newsday filed dueling summary judgment motions before Manhattan Federal Judge Sidney Stein, asking him to resolve core copyright issues before trial.
News organizations allege that Microsoft and OpenAI infringe on copyrights by ingesting their journalism to train large language models, arguing this "wholesale taking" threatens their business by competing directly with human-produced reporting.
Microsoft argues its Copilot AI rarely reproduces copyrighted content, citing an analysis of 8.2 million conversations where only 24 responses contained matching passages, maintaining that training on human journalism constitutes "fair use."
The Justice Department sided with the tech companies in a Tuesday filing, arguing that AI development is a matter of national interest and that restricting copyright use could stifle "scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility."
Publishers seek court orders for the "impoundment and/or destruction" of AI models and training data sets, while also urging the court to unseal redacted motions regarding admissions by Microsoft executives in coming weeks.