Seattle Times and Newsday Escalate the Publisher Copyright Fight
The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that their journalism was used without permission to train AI models and that chatbot responses sometimes reproduce passages from their reporting.[11] They are seeking destruction of retained copies of their work, associated training…
The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that their journalism was used without permission to train AI models and that chatbot responses sometimes reproduce passages from their reporting.[11] They are seeking destruction of retained copies of their work, associated training datasets, and AI models incorporating that material.[11]
Why it matters: The requested destruction of trained models raises the potential consequences beyond monetary damages and challenges whether models containing allegedly infringing training material can remain in use.[11] The case also adds two publishers to litigation that already includes nearly 400 local newspapers and plaintiffs such as The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, and Encyclopedia Britannica.[11]
Key insights: Microsoft was named because Copilot is built on OpenAI’s technology.[11] | The publishers argue that chatbot answers reduce visits to their websites and consequently damage subscription revenue.[11] | The allegations resemble other publishers’ claims that OpenAI trained models on copyrighted journalism without authorization.[11] | OpenAI and Microsoft had not immediately responded to requests for comment when the case was reported.[11]
Cheatsheet facts: What changed: The Seattle Times and Newsday joined the expanding group of publishers suing OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement.[11] | Why now: The outlets allege that AI products both incorporate their reporting and substitute chatbot answers for visits that could generate subscription revenue.[11] | Watch next: Watch the defendants’ court responses and whether the court allows the publishers’ requested destruction of datasets and models to remain part of the case.[11]
The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that their journalism was used without permission to train AI models and that chatbot responses sometimes reproduce passages from their reporting.[11] They are seeking destruction of retained copies of their work, associated training datasets, and AI models incorporating that material.[11]
Why it matters: The requested destruction of trained models raises the potential consequences beyond monetary damages and challenges whether models containing allegedly infringing training material can remain in use.[11] The case also adds two publishers to litigation that already includes nearly 400 local newspapers and plaintiffs such as The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, and Encyclopedia Britannica.[11]
Key insights: Microsoft was named because Copilot is built on OpenAI’s technology.[11] | The publishers argue that chatbot answers reduce visits to their websites and consequently damage subscription revenue.[11] | The allegations resemble other publishers’ claims that OpenAI trained models on copyrighted journalism without authorization.[11] | OpenAI and Microsoft had not immediately responded to requests for comment when the case was reported.[11]
Cheatsheet facts: What changed: The Seattle Times and Newsday joined the expanding group of publishers suing OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement.[11] | Why now: The outlets allege that AI products both incorporate their reporting and substitute chatbot answers for visits that could generate subscription revenue.[11] | Watch next: Watch the defendants’ court responses and whether the court allows the publishers’ requested destruction of datasets and models to remain part of the case.[11]