The Center for Investigative Journalism (CIR), a nonprofit organization that supports the U.S. government, announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI alleging copyright infringement. The move follows similar lawsuits by the New York Times and other media outlets. “OpenAI and Microsoft began collecting our articles to train their AI, but never asked for permission or offered compensation, unlike other organizations,” Monika Bauerlein, CEO of the Center for Investigative Journalism, said in a statement. “This behavior is not only unfair, it is a copyright violation. The work of journalists, at CIR and elsewhere, is valuable, and OpenAI and Microsoft know it.”
CIR’s lawyers allege in the lawsuit that OpenAI and Microsoft copied their content, compromised relationships with readers and partners, and deprived the organization of revenue. CIR joins several others pursuing lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft. The New York Times has already spent $1 million in its lawsuit against the two companies. A group of eight publications owned by Alden Global Capital, including the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, are also involved in a lawsuit, along with The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet, and The Denver Post. Author groups have also sued OpenAI, although a lawsuit filed by a group that includes comedian Sarah Silverman was partially dismissed.
A number of media organizations have signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, including The Associated Press, Axel Springer, the Financial Times, Dotdash Meredith, News Corp, Vox Media, The Atlantic, and Time. “We are working with the news industry and partnering with global news publishers to showcase their content in our products like ChatGPT, including summaries, quotes, and attribution, to drive traffic to the original articles,” an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC about the CIR lawsuit.