Lawsuit Filed Against OpenAI and Microsoft by New York Daily News and Seven Other Newspapers for Copyright Infringement

Eight American newspapers filed a lawsuit this Tuesday against OpenAI and Microsoft in a federal court in New York. The newspapers, including The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, are owned by Alden Global Capital. The lawsuit alleges that the companies violated copyright laws by using millions of copyrighted articles to train their AI technology behind chatbots ChatGPT and Co-pilot.

The lawsuit claims that the defendants used copyrighted content without permission or payment to enhance their AI products. The media companies argue that OpenAI and Microsoft must obtain consent and pay a fair value for using their content. The lawsuit also accuses the companies of providing verbatim excerpts from entire articles and attributing misleading information to publications in certain applications.

Other newspapers involved in the lawsuit include The Orlando Sentinel, The Florida Sun Sentinel, The San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post, The Orange County Register, and The St. Paul Pioneer Press. OpenAI and Microsoft did not address the specific allegations but stated that they take great care with their products and design process to support news organizations.

The lawsuit is similar to one filed by The New York Times in December against OpenAI. In that case, OpenAI defended itself by arguing that using publicly available data, including news articles, is fair use. OpenAI also accused The New York Times of violating the usage guidelines for ChatGPT. Microsoft declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Some media organizations, such as The Associated Press, the Financial Times, and Le Monde, have partnered with OpenAI instead of taking legal action. The outcome of the lawsuit will likely impact how AI companies use copyrighted content in the future.