US newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright misuse in AI training

The Seattle Times and Newsday accuse the tech giants of using their journalism to develop AI products without permission, raising fresh questions over content rights, publisher compensation and the future of AI training data.

Two US newspapers Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the technology companies of using their copyrighted journalism to train and power artificial intelligence systems without authorisation.

The case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The newspapers allege that content from their websites was collected and used in datasets associated with AI products, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot and AI-powered Bing features.

According to the publishers, the alleged scraping also involved articles protected by paywalls. They argue that the way AI systems process and present news content could affect the business model of digital journalism by allowing users to obtain information without directly visiting news websites or paying for subscriptions.

Newspapers seek protection for their content

The two publishers claim that AI systems can sometimes reproduce portions of their reporting or generate responses that closely resemble their original articles. They contend that such capabilities could undermine the value of journalism produced through significant investments in reporters, editors and other newsroom resources.

Seattle Times President and CEO Alan Fisco told employees that the newspaper believes it needs to protect journalism that requires millions of dollars in annual investment from being used without consent or compensation.

OpenAI, however, maintains that its AI models are trained using publicly available information and that such use is protected under the principle of fair use. A company spokesperson made the statement while declining to comment specifically on the lawsuit.

Microsoft also acknowledged the dispute but highlighted the importance of local journalism. A company spokesperson said Microsoft was surprised by the legal action and remains open to discussing possible solutions with the publishers.

The newspapers are seeking court intervention that would require the companies to remove and destroy copies of their copyrighted works. Their demands also extend to training datasets and AI models that allegedly contain or rely on their material.

Lawsuit adds to growing AI copyright battle

The legal action adds to a rapidly expanding series of copyright disputes involving AI developers and content owners. News organisations, authors, artists and other rights holders have increasingly challenged the use of their work in training generative AI systems.

The latest case also resembles a lawsuit filed by The New York Times in 2023 against OpenAI and Microsoft. That case alleged that millions of newspaper articles were used without permission to develop AI technologies and remains before the courts.

OpenAI, Microsoft and other AI companies, including Anthropic and Meta, are facing multiple copyright-related cases from content owners. At the centre of these disputes is whether material available online can legally be collected and used to train AI models without obtaining licences or paying rights holders.

The outcome of these cases could have significant implications for both the AI industry and the media sector. A clearer legal framework could determine how technology companies obtain training data and whether publishers and other content creators must be compensated when their work contributes to the development of AI systems.