Surprisingly, the New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing both firms of copyright infringement – the unauthorized use of the publication’s materials while training artificial intelligence models.
The plaintiff noted that it became the first major American news publication to sue the developers of ChatGPT and other popular AI platforms for alleged copyright infringement related to its materials. The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, alleges that millions of articles published by the New York Times were used to train chatbots that now compete with news agencies and claim to be the source of reliable information.
The lawsuit does not include an exact amount for damages. However, it emphasized that the defendants should be liable for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” related to the “illegal copying and use of works of unique value.” The plaintiff is also seeking the destruction of chatbot models and training data that use copyrighted training materials. No comments were received from OpenAI and Microsoft.
The New York Times noted that it attempted to settle the dispute out of court in April by reaching out to Microsoft and OpenAI, expressing concerns about the use of its intellectual property and offering commercial and technological remedies, including restrictions on generative AI, but negotiations failed to produce results. After asking for information about current events that matter, chatbot users may receive an answer based, in particular, on past New York Times stories, be satisfied with it, and refuse to go to the newspaper’s website, thereby reducing web traffic that converts in advertising and subscription revenues.
The lawsuit cites several examples of the chatbot providing users with near-verbatim excerpts from New York Times articles available only on a paid subscription basis. According to the newspaper, OpenAI and Microsoft paid special attention to their materials during AI training because of their supposed reliability and accuracy. At the same time, the publication does not reject new technologies: it recently hired an editorial director for initiatives in the field of AI – he is tasked with developing protocols for the use of AI in the editorial office and studying ways of integrating AI into the work of journalists.
An example is given when the ChatGPT-based Browse With Bing feature reproduced material from Wirecutter, a product review resource owned by the New York Times, almost verbatim. At the same time, the chatbot’s response did not include a link to the Wirecutter article and referral links to products that are used to receive commissions from sales on third-party sites. It points to the reputational damage to the New York Times due to chatbot “hallucinations” – AI malfunctions when the chatbot provides inaccurate data. It cited cases where Microsoft’s Bing Chat misrepresented information, citing the New York Times, offering a list of the “15 best heart-healthy foods,” 12 of which were not mentioned at all in the newspaper’s publication.
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