The New York Times (NYT) has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement.
The suit, initiated on Wednesday in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, accuses the tech giants of using millions of the newspaper’s articles to train their artificial intelligence technologies, including ChatGPT.
The New York Times is the first major US media organization to take such a decisive legal step against companies responsible for creating popular AI platforms.
The lawsuit does not specify a monetary demand but seeks “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” for the alleged unlawful copying and use of the Times’s content.
This high-stakes lawsuit calls for the defendants to destroy any AI models and training data that incorporate the Times’s copyrighted material.
The case comes amid a growing legal and ethical debate over the use of published works in training generative AI technologies.
The lawsuit underscores the concerns of creative industries about the uncompensated use of intellectual property by AI systems.
These technologies, capable of generating sophisticated written responses, have sparked fears of potential copyright violations and loss of revenue for original content creators.
The complaint filed by The New York Times illustrates the extent to which its journalism has been used without permission to train AI programs.
The newspaper argues that such use directly competes with its role as a reliable news source and potentially decreases its web traffic, impacting advertising and subscription revenues.
The lawsuit follows unsuccessful negotiations between The Times, Microsoft, and OpenAI, where the newspaper sought an amicable resolution, possibly involving a commercial agreement and technological safeguards.
The complaint highlights instances where AI-generated responses included verbatim excerpts from Times articles, accessible only through a paid subscription.
This legal move by The Times also brings to light the broader impact of AI technologies on the news industry.
As AI chatbots provide information on current events, there is a growing concern that they might substitute traditional news sources.
In contrast, some media organizations have started embracing AI technologies. The Associated Press and Axel Springer, for instance, have entered licensing agreements with OpenAI.
The New York Times itself is exploring AI’s integration into its journalism.
The case against OpenAI and Microsoft is poised to set a significant precedent in the evolving landscape of AI technology. It raises critical questions about the balance between technological innovation and the protection of intellectual property, especially in the realm of journalism and content creation.