Two more news organizations sue OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement

The Seattle Times and Newsday accused the two AI giants of using their content without permission. The Seattle Times and Newsday have jointly filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of training their AI models using copyrighted works. The two news organizations who filed the legal action on Friday called generative AI "a snake eating its own tail" that would destroy the news organizations and content that it trained on.

Lawsuit Allegations

In the lawsuit, Seattle Times and Newsday alleged that OpenAI and Microsoft were "methodically scraping" news articles in a way that bypasses paywalls. The news organizations claimed that this method of training AI models has harmed their business models, giving users an AI-generated alternative to news articles and reducing the traffic and digital advertising revenue for Seattle Times and Newsday. The lawsuit also alleged that these AI models would create hallucinations attributing false information to the news outlets and remove copyright management information on articles.

Broader Legal Context

Seattle Times and Newsday join a growing list of news organizations that have started a legal battle against AI companies:

• In 2023, the New York Times set the precedent by filing a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for similar reasons.
• The trend has continued, with CNN suing Perplexity for copyright infringement earlier this year.
• Other news organizations like AP and Vox Media have taken a different route and partnered with OpenAI, allowing the AI giant to train models on their material.