Loading page…
The publishers say AI answers can substitute for visits and subscriptions. Their requested remedy would cover the articles, datasets and models that allegedly incorporate them.
Listen to this story
The lawsuit could test whether copyright remedies reach beyond copied articles to the datasets and deployed models built with them. Filed in Manhattan federal court, the 38-page complaint from The Seattle Times and Newsday seeks damages plus impoundment or destruction of material allegedly used by OpenAI and Microsoft, including paywalled journalism. The publishers say AI answers can reproduce or closely paraphrase reporting and weaken subscription incentives.
The complaint seeks orders affecting training datasets and AI models, not only removal of individual articles.
The publishers allege paywalled content was scraped and sometimes reproduced verbatim without compensation.
OpenAI says its models use publicly available data and rely on fair use, but did not address this case specifically.
The Seattle Times and Newsday have sued OpenAI and Microsoft in New York federal court, alleging copyright and trademark infringement. They are seeking destruction of copies of their work, training datasets and AI models that incorporate their material.
The 38-page complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, accuses the companies of infringing the newspapers’ copyrights and trademarks. It alleges that the companies scraped the publishers’ sites, including paywalled material, and put articles into datasets used to train and operate AI products.
The publishers also allege that the systems ingested and reproduced their journalism, sometimes verbatim, without compensation. The complaint says the products can reproduce or closely paraphrase reporting and answer questions in ways that reduce a user’s need to visit the newspapers’ sites or buy subscriptions.
The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages and court orders for the impoundment or destruction of datasets and models containing their articles. That request covers more than copies of the publishers’ work: it asks the court to address the training material and AI models alleged to incorporate it.
Microsoft said it was surprised by the suit and willing to explore solutions involving local journalism. Microsoft is a major OpenAI shareholder and partner, according to Newsday.
The case follows The New York Times’ 2023 copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft over newspaper articles used to train AI systems. The Chicago Tribune and The Denver Post are also identified as news organizations that have sued OpenAI.
Other publishers have taken a commercial route. The Washington Post and News Corp. chose deals with OpenAI instead of litigation, leaving publishers to pursue different responses to the same dispute over the use of their journalism in AI products.
Loading discussion...
Be the first to share a perspective or an experience.
Reader comments
Newest comments first. Replies stay oldest first.