The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copy infringement after negotiations between the parties broke down.

AI models require gargantuan quantities of data for training, and where that data comes from is one of the most controversial elements in the debate over AI, with content creators and the companies behind AI models often at odds. The Times had been in negotiations with OpenAI and Microsoft over the use of its content, but those negotiations appear to have broken down.

In the legal complaint, the Times cited OpenAI and Microsoft’s use of its content, as well as those times when AI falsely attributes information to the outlet:

• The Constitution and the Copyright Act recognize the critical importance of giving creators exclusive rights over their works. Since our nation’s founding, strong copyright protection has empowered those who gather and report news to secure the fruits of their labor and investment. Copyright law protects The Times’s expressive, original journalism, including, but not limited to, its millions of articles that have registered copyrights.
• Defendants have refused to recognize this protection. Powered by LLMs containing copies of Times content, Defendants’ GenAI tools can generate output that recites Times content verbatim, closely summarizes it, and mimics its expressive style, as demonstrated by scores of examples. See Exhibit J. These tools also wrongly attribute false information to The Times.

Interestingly, an OpenAI spokesperson told The Washington Post that the company believed negotiations with the Times were going well.

“Our ongoing conversations with the New York Times have been productive and moving forward constructively, so we are surprised and disappointed with this development,” spokesperson Lindsey Held said.

The lawsuit is the latest challenge to companies developing AI, a challenge that could easily gain momentum given the Times’ stature.