US Newspapers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over Copyright Infringement in AI Training

Eight daily newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the unlawful use of their articles to train language models.

The tech giants are accused of employing millions of articles to train generative AI products, including ChatGPT and Copilot. The publications claim they did not grant permission, and all materials are protected by copyright.

The plaintiffs include the following publications:

• 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;
• The St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The lawsuit claims that chatbots regularly reproduced full texts of articles behind paywalls without citing sources. This, according to the complainants, reduced the need for readers to pay for premium access to support local newspapers and deprived publishers of revenue from subscriptions and licensing their content elsewhere.

“We have spent billions of dollars gathering information and reporting news in our publications, and we cannot allow OpenAI and Microsoft to build their business at our expense,” said Frank Pine, executive editor overseeing Alden’s newspapers.

The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial and compensation for the use of copyrighted content.

A representative of OpenAI stated that the company was “previously unaware” of the publisher’s concerns. The startup is currently collaborating and negotiating with many news organizations to explore potential opportunities.

“Together with our partners in the news industry, we see enormous potential for AI tools like ChatGPT to deepen publishers’ relationships with readers and enhance the news experience,” she said.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment.

AI Tarnishes Newspapers’ Reputation

Lawyers representing Alden’s newspapers accuse OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement, unfair competition through unlawful appropriation, and trademark dilution.

The plaintiffs claim that chatbots falsely attributed inaccurate or misleading reports to the publications, “tarnishing reputations and spreading dangerous information.”

As an example, they cite ChatGPT’s response to a query about which baby lounger The Chicago Tribune recommends. According to the complaint, the chatbot replied that The Tribune advises the Boppy product.

However, this lounger was actually pulled from the market after being linked to infant deaths, and the newspaper never recommended it in its publications.

In another incident, the chatbot claimed that The Denver Post published a study on the benefits of smoking for asthma treatment. In reality, this never happened, the complaint states.

“This issue affects not only the business interests of a few newspapers or the news industry as a whole. […] It is a critical issue for American civic life,” the lawsuit states.

Content Creators vs. Big Tech

This lawsuit adds to the growing number of legal battles concerning the use of data for AI training. Online information such as articles, Wikipedia posts, and other content is increasingly becoming a source for the rapidly developing industry.

A recent investigation by The New York Times revealed that many tech companies ignored copyright policies. They also allegedly discussed ways to circumvent the law in an attempt to gather as much data as possible for training chatbots.

Publishers have also taken note of the use of their content. In December 2023, NYT sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of copying copyrighted articles to train chatbots. They subsequently competed with the newspaper as a source of news and information, the complaint claims.

Microsoft succeeded in having part of the lawsuit dismissed. It also argued that NYT failed to prove actual harm and that large language models did not replace the market for news articles. OpenAI made a similar argument.

Some other publications have attempted to negotiate compensation with tech companies. The Financial Times struck a deal with OpenAI, allowing it to use its content for AI training. The terms of the deal are undisclosed.

OpenAI has also reached agreements with German publishing giant Axel Springer (Business Insider and Politico), The Associated Press, and French news outlet Le Monde.

Back in January, a group of American writers accused OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement in AI training.