The Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI training data
Quick Look
The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the companies used their journalism to train AI models without permission, claiming this practice could destroy the news industry by consuming original content to produce derivative imitations.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The New York Times previously sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 over similar copyright infringement claims, and other publications have since filed lawsuits as the legal battle continues.
Two more news organizations are suing OpenAI and Microsoft over the supposed use of their journalism to train AI.
A lawsuit filed by The Seattle Times and Newsday argued that with the advent of AI, the journalism industry could become “broken beyond repair.” The lawsuit described generative AI as “a snake eating its own tail” that could “destroy the very organizations” that produce the content it’s trained on.
“AI products like ChatGPT and CoPilot are touted as producers of content, but in fact they are rapacious consumers, devouring human-authored content and delivering back to the world copies and derivative imitations of that same original content they consumed to achieve their commercial objectives,” the lawsuit said.
Back in 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and its partner/investor Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement; other publications have followed suit as the case continued. The Seattle Times’ lawsuit is particularly notable because Microsoft and OpenAI have funded some of the organization’s journalism projects and fellowships.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The lawsuit will proceed to discovery phase where plaintiffs will seek evidence of specific content used in AI training
Likely · Within months
Courts will need to rule on whether AI training on copyrighted material constitutes fair use
Possible · Within months
Open Questions
- What specific articles or content were used in training the AI models?
- How will the courts determine whether AI training constitutes fair use or copyright infringement?
- What damages are the plaintiffs seeking in this lawsuit?
