Seattle Times, Newsday Sue OpenAI & Microsoft for AI Training

The Seattle Times and Newsday are suing OpenAI and Microsoft. They accuse the companies of using their journalism without permission to train AI products like ChatGPT. The lawsuit, filed on September 4, 2026, claims their websites, including paywalled content, were scraped. They want damages and a court order to destroy copies of their work within AI models. The complaint also alleges trademark dilution. It says AI products have generated false content and attributed it to the newspapers. This could damage their reputation and lead to reduced traffic. Industry data cited in the lawsuit shows search referral traffic to midsize publishers fell 47% year over year in December 2025. Microsoft expressed surprise at the lawsuit and stated a willingness to discuss solutions. OpenAI maintains its models are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use. This case highlights a growing legal battle over how AI companies use published content.