Copyright Infringement: New York Times Sues OpenAI And Microsoft (Photo by Andres Oropeza on Unsplash)
The New York Times filed a federal lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI on Wednesday. The lawsuit claims that both the companies are using millions of the newspaper”s articles without permission to help train the chatbots. The lawsuit was filed by the Times in a federal district court in Manhattan.
In the complaint, the Times accused ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Microsoft of trying to “free-ride on The Times”s massive investment in its journalism” by using it to build alternative means without permission or payment. The media organisation alleged that Microsoft and OpenAI models produce content similar to that generated by the newspaper. The publication also said that there is nothing “transformative” about using their content without payment to develop products that substitute for The Times and steal audiences away from it.
Notably, the Times is the first major media organisation to sue AI companies over copyright infringement. Meanwhile, the publication has not demanded a specific amount of damages. However, the Times alleges that it could have cost “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.” An OpenAI spokesperson told Axios in a statement that they respect the rights of content creators and owners. The spokesperson also added that OpenAI is committed to working with content creators to ensure they benefit from AI technology and new revenue models.
Meanwhile, there is an escalation in tensions between media companies and the creator of ChatGPT. In February, Bloomberg reported that the world’s leading news outlets have started to criticize OpenAI for using their articles to train its ChatGPT software. As per this report, the Wall Street Journal and CNN raised concerns about the use of stories. Earlier, the New York Times reported that Apple has started discussions with various news publishers about licensing their news archives and using that information to help train its generative AI systems. The report highlighted that the tech giant has floated multiyear deals to license the archives of news articles.
