Trump Admin Tells Court: Let OpenAI Rip Off The Intercept’s Articles

President Donald Trump's Justice Department sided with OpenAI in its legal dispute with media organizations, including The Intercept, over the use of their content to train artificial intelligence tools. The administration claimed that the U.S. has a strong interest in OpenAI's access to a vast array of intellectual property, arguing that restricting access could hinder scientific progress and the nation's dominance in AI development.

The filing, signed by key officials, emphasized the U.S.'s commitment to a robust and competitive AI industry. The Intercept's attorney, Matt Topic, denounced the administration's stance, stating it goes against public skepticism of AI and the country's historical protection of human expression. If the administration's position were accepted, it could lead to an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of intellectual property rights from news organizations to tech companies.

The Intercept initially sued OpenAI and Microsoft in February 2024, alleging copyright infringement due to OpenAI's use of reported and written material by its journalists. The case was later consolidated with other media plaintiffs, and OpenAI argued that its practices fall under "fair use," a doctrine that allows unlicensed use of copyrighted material under certain circumstances, particularly when the use is transformative.

The Justice Department supported OpenAI's fair-use defense, accusing the plaintiffs of adopting a narrow interpretation of the doctrine, which could hinder competition in the LLM market.