NYT alleges Microsoft, OpenAI knew using news content was theft

The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence companies OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the former company stole millions of news articles to train its AI models. According to court documents, OpenAI scraped content from over 10 million articles, with nearly a third of the content originating from the New York Times alone.

Microsoft's Director of Applied Science, Brent Hect, reportedly described the act as "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions" and possibly the "largest theft of labor in human history." Hect also warned that OpenAI may have covered up its actions when identifying content from the New York Times and other plaintiffs. Microsoft maintains that Hect's statements are his individual opinion and do not represent the company's views.

The lawsuit, filed three years ago, seeks damages for each article allegedly stolen and used by OpenAI's models, though the total penalties remain unclear. OpenAI has since entered into content licensing deals with numerous news publishers worldwide, but concerns persist that generative AI could diminish traffic to online news sites.

AI companies have attempted to address these concerns by adding citations linking to user queries, though these efforts have been criticized as insufficient.