The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement. The newspaper claims that the tech companies used its content without permission to develop their artificial intelligence (AI) products, specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot. The lawsuit argues that the unauthorized use of its content diverts traffic from its web properties, resulting in lost revenue. The New York Times is seeking damages and requesting the court to prohibit the tech companies from using its content and to destroy datasets that include its work. The legal landscape surrounding generative AI is still evolving, and this lawsuit could have significant implications for the news publishing industry. Other lawsuits challenging the rights of AI companies to scrape content from the web for training purposes are also in progress. The U.S. Copyright Office has launched an initiative to study the use of copyrighted materials in AI training, indicating that legislative or regulatory steps may be necessary. This lawsuit raises the possibility of other major news outlets pursuing legal action or negotiating for compensation from AI companies.
By FCCT Editorial Team

