Seattle Times, Newsday Sue OpenAI & Microsoft Over AI Training

The Seattle Times and Newsday are suing OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged copyright infringement. The newspapers claim their journalistic materials were copied without permission to train artificial intelligence systems. Specifically, they allege that content, including paid subscription articles, was used in datasets for ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Bing's AI features. The publications say these AI products can reproduce and paraphrase their articles, potentially reducing website visits and subscriptions. An OpenAI spokesperson states their models train on publicly available data, citing fair use. Microsoft expressed surprise but is open to discussions. The newspapers want the court to order the destruction of copies of their works and related AI models. This action follows a similar lawsuit filed by The New York Times in 2023. The bottom line here is a growing legal challenge to how AI companies use published content for training.