The New York Times has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft seeking to end the practice of using its stories to train chatbots, saying that copyright infringements at the paper alone could be worth billions.
Quick Read
- The New York Times Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft: The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in a Manhattan federal court. The suit alleges copyright infringement, claiming that the companies are using the newspaper’s stories to train chatbots, which could potentially be worth billions in infringements.
- Growing Concerns Over Copyrighted Material Use: The Times joins a list of individuals and publishers trying to stop OpenAI from using copyrighted material. They argue that OpenAI and Microsoft’s use of their work to create AI products competes with and threatens their ability to provide their services.
- Details of the Lawsuit: The lawsuit does not specify the amount in damages but seeks to hold OpenAI and Microsoft responsible for what it claims are billions of dollars in damages due to the unlawful copying and use of the Times’s content. The Times is also seeking the destruction of GPT and other large language models or training sets incorporating its work.
- Impact on Media Organizations: The rise of AI technology, which often scrapes information from online sources including media articles to train AI models, poses a challenge to media organizations already adapting to a digital audience.
- Microsoft and OpenAI Partnership: Microsoft, a major backer of OpenAI since 2019 with billions of dollars in investment, uses OpenAI’s technology in its products. The partnership includes Microsoft providing supercomputing power for OpenAI’s research.
- Other Copyright Infringement Lawsuits Against OpenAI: OpenAI has faced lawsuits from other writers and over 4,000 writers have accused AI developers of exploitative practices in using their work to build chatbots.
- The Times’s Negotiations with OpenAI and Microsoft: Prior to filing the lawsuit, The New York Times had reached out to both companies in April to discuss the use of its intellectual property and sought a fair value for its content use. However, these negotiations did not lead to a resolution, prompting the lawsuit.
- OpenAI’s Licensing Deal with The Associated Press: In contrast to the lawsuit, OpenAI has an official licensing agreement with The Associated Press for using its news stories archive, showing a potential model for legally using copyrighted material in AI development.
The Associated Press has the story:
The New York Times sues OpenAI, Microsoft over using its stories to train Chatbots
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP)
The New York Times has filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft seeking to end the practice of using its stories to train chatbots, saying that copyright infringements at the paper alone could be worth billions.
The paper joins a growing list of individuals and publishers trying to stop OpenAI from using copyrighted material.
In the suit filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, the Times said OpenAI and Microsoft are advancing their technology through the “unlawful use of The Times’s work to create artificial intelligence products that compete with it” and “threatens The Times’s ability to provide that service.”
OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Media organizations have been pummeled by a migration of readers to online platforms and while many publications have carved out a digital space online as well, artificial intelligence technology has threatened to upend numerous industries, including media.
Artificial intelligence companies scrape information available online, including articles published by media organizations, to train generative AI chatbots. Those companies have attracted billions in investments very rapidly.
Microsoft has a partnership with OpenAI that allows it to capitalize on the AI technology made by the artificial intelligence company. The Redmon, Washington, tech giant is also OpenAI’s biggest backer and has invested billions of dollars into the company since the two began their partnership in 2019 with a $1 billion investment. As part of the agreement, Microsoft’s supercomputers help power OpenAI’s AI research and the tech giant integrates the startup’s technology into its products.
The number or lawsuits filed against OpenAI for copyright infringement is growing. The company has been sued by a number of writers – including comedian Sarah Silverman – who say their books were ingested to train OpenAI’s AI models without their permission. In June, more than 4,000 writers signed a letter to the CEOs of OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta and other AI developers accusing them of exploitative practices in building chatbots that “mimic and regurgitate” their language, style and ideas.
The Times did not list specific damages that it is seeking, but said the legal action “seeks to hold them responsible for the billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages that they owe for the unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.”
The Times, however, is seeking the destruction of GPT and other large language models or training sets that incorporate its work.
In the complaint, the Times said Microsoft and OpenAI “seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investments in its journalism” by using it to build products without payment or permission.
In July, OpenAI and The Associated Press announced a deal for the artificial intelligence company to license AP’s archive of news stories.
The New York Times said it’s never given permission to anyone to use its content for generative AI purposes.
The lawsuit also follows what appears to be breakdowns in talks between the newspaper and the two companies.
The Times said it reached out to Microsoft and OpenAI in April to raise concerns about the use of its intellectual property and reach a resolution on the issue. During the talks, the newspaper said it sought to “ensure it received fair value” for the use of its content, “facilitate the continuation of a healthy news ecosystem, and help develop GenAI technology in a responsible way that benefits society and supports a well-informed public.”
“These negotiations have not led to a resolution,” the lawsuit said.
