NYT says Microsoft, OpenAI knew using content was theft

The New York Times alleges in court documents that Microsoft and OpenAI engaged in a massive theft by using millions of news articles to train their artificial intelligence models. OpenAI scraped content from over 10 million articles, with nearly a third coming from the New York Times alone. Microsoft's Director of Applied Science, Brent Hect, reportedly described the situation as "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions" and potentially the "largest theft of labor in human history."

Hect also warned that OpenAI may have covered up this theft unintentionally. Microsoft, however, considers Hect's statements as the opinions of a single employee and not representative of the company's views. The newspaper, along with other news publishers, sued OpenAI and Microsoft three years ago in a New York federal court, claiming they had stolen their copyrighted material to train OpenAI's flagship model, ChatGPT.

Several other publishers, including CNET, Mother Jones, and The Intercept, have also joined the lawsuit seeking damages for each allegedly stolen article. Despite signing content licensing deals with numerous news publishers, AI companies continue to face criticism for potentially reducing traffic to internet news sites. While AI companies argue their use of news content falls under fair use laws, the plaintiffs have requested a summary judgment in their favor, seeking a ruling by 2027.