NYT alleges Microsoft, OpenAI knowingly used news articles in ‘largest labour theft in human history’

On September 18, the New York Times filed a court document alleging that Microsoft and OpenAI engaged in what they described as "the largest labor theft in human history" by using millions of news articles to train their artificial intelligence models. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI scraped content from over 10 million articles, with nearly a third of that content originating from the New York Times alone.

Microsoft's Director of Applied Science, Brent Hect, called the alleged theft "astonishing" and potentially the "largest theft of labor in human history." Hect also warned that OpenAI may have engaged in an "accidental cover-up" in its efforts to identify content that originated from the New York Times and other plaintiffs.

Microsoft dismissed Hect's statements as the individual opinion of one employee and emphasized that they do not represent the company's perspective. The newspaper had previously filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in 2020, alleging that they had stolen its copyrighted material to train OpenAI's flagship model, ChatGPT. Microsoft joined the suit in 2022 and has since invested in OpenAI.

The lawsuit involves several other news publishers, including CNET, Mother Jones, and The Intercept, as well as local newspapers across the United States. They are seeking damages for each article that they believe was stolen and used by OpenAI's models. However, it remains uncertain what the total amount of penalties could be.

Since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022, OpenAI has signed content licensing agreements with numerous news publishers worldwide. Still, concerns persist that generative AI software is negatively impacting traffic to internet news sites. OpenAI has attempted to address these concerns by incorporating citations with links to user queries; however, this effort has been criticized as insufficient.

According to a court document, one of OpenAI's engineers admitted that users are unlikely to click on these links, regardless of their prominence.

Microsoft and OpenAI contend that their use of news content is transformative and falls under "fair use" laws. In early September, the US Department of Justice filed a brief supporting OpenAI and Microsoft, invoking "scientific progress," economic growth, and "national security." The plaintiffs have requested a summary judgment in their favor, and if granted by US District Judge Sidney Stein, the case would not proceed to trial. However, a ruling is not anticipated until 2027.