New York Times sues OpenAI, Microsoft for using its articles to train chatbots

The New York Times filed suit against OpenAI and Microsoft on Tuesday in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, accusing the two tech giants of copyright infringement, alleging the companies used its human writers’ original works to train generative artificial intelligence technologies. The Times claims the two companies caused “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” through the “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” The outlet hasn’t specified a monetary amount, but wants the companies to destroy the Times-produced training data collected by the companies along with the resultant chatbots. 

“While Defendants engaged in widescale copying from many sources, they gave Times content particular emphasis when building their LLMs — revealing a preference that recognizes the value of those works … Defendants seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism,” the outlet said in its complaint, “using The Times’s content without payment to create products that substitute for The Times and steal audiences away from it.”

In its extensive list of evidence, The Times also points to instances where it says the generative-AI products “also wrongly attribute false information to The Times.” The outlet argues that the $90-billion valuation of ChatGPT was achieved in large part by OpenAI’s alleged theft and repackaging of The Times’ intellectual property. According to the complaint, the suit is a result of months of failed negotiations between Microsoft, OpenAI and the publishers. The Times has retained the Susman Godfrey law firm — the same firm that brought Fox News to heel this year with a $787.5 million settlement on behalf of Dominion Voting Systems.