8 Newspapers Sue OpenAI & Microsoft For Copyright Infringement
OpenAI and Microsoft are facing accusations of training their AI chatbots using newspaper articles without obtaining consent.
By Sukhbir Cheema — 02 May 2024, 11:47 AM
Eight newspapers in the US have taken OpenAI and Microsoft to court, accusing them of violating copyright by using their content to train ChatGPT and Copilot
The eight newspapers filing the lawsuit are The New York Daily News, The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sun Sentinel of Florida, The San Jose Mercury News, The Denver Post, The Orange County Register, and The St. Paul Pioneer Press.
In a court filing dated 30 April, the newspapers alleged that OpenAI and Microsoft used their articles to train the AI chatbots without obtaining permission
"This lawsuit arises from defendants purloining millions of the publishers’ copyrighted articles without permission and without payment to fuel the commercialization of their generative artificial intelligence products, including ChatGPT and (Microsoft’s) Copilot," the filing read.
"As this lawsuit will demonstrate, defendants must both obtain the publishers’ consent to use their content and pay fair value for such use."
OpenAI, along with its backer Microsoft, also faces allegations of providing exact excerpts from full articles and incorrectly attributing misleading or inaccurate reporting to the publications in specific requests.
While Microsoft remains mum, OpenAI issued a statement saying it's open to supporting news organisations, though it did not specifically address the accusations
In the statement, the Microsoft-backed AI startup said it takes great care in its products and design process to support news organisations.
OpenAI also referred to partnerships and conversations with news organisations such as The Associated Press, Financial Times, Germany’s Axel Springer, French daily Le Monde and Spanish conglomerate Prisa Media in exploring opportunities, discussing concerns, and providing solutions.
This lawsuit is similar to the case filed by The New York Times in December 2023
The New York Times had accused OpenAI of stealing its content to train ChatGPT.
OpenAI made a strong argument for the use of publicly available data, including news articles, for general training purposes.
The New York Times was also accused of generating content to support its case which could be seen as violating ChatGPT’s user guidelines.
