New York Times Files for Summary Judgment in Copyright Case Against OpenAI and Microsoft

The New York Times has filed for summary judgment in its copyright lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, submitting new legal briefs citing internal company documents. The lawsuit, filed in late 2023, accuses both companies of using thousands of news articles without permission to train products like ChatGPT and Copilot.

The brief cites a January 2023 internal memo from Microsoft applied sciences director Brent Hecht, who called large models consuming labor output "the largest theft of labor in human history." Another Microsoft document states that almost no one wants their content used this way without compensation.

Microsoft data shows Copilot led to up to a 93% drop in click-through rates for The New York Times. Hecht called it a "vicious cycle." OpenAI's ChatGPT lead Nick Turley said internally that AI chatbots pose an "existential threat" to publishers. Another OpenAI researcher shared a technique to bypass The New York Times paywall.