Judge Asked to Rule on Microsoft-OpenAI 'Fair Use' Claims in Copyright Lawsuit

A Manhattan federal judge is being asked to rule on whether Microsoft and OpenAI's use of copyrighted news content in their AI models constitutes 'fair use.' The New York Times, Daily News, and other news organizations have filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the tech giants' actions are pirating original reporting.

The motion, which was filed on Friday, asks Judge Sidney Stein to determine that Microsoft and OpenAI did not employ 'fair use' of their reporting at any stage of the AI pipeline, including when acquiring articles behind paywalls and training large language models.

OpenAI's chatbots have been accused of regurgitating news articles verbatim, with some users going to the platform for their news. The news organizations claim that this has drastically impacted website traffic and subscriptions that fund reporters' salaries and news gathering. Over one billion people use OpenAI's ChatGPT, according to figures released in June by Sensor Tower.

Mary Lieberman, the attorney leading The News' representation in the case, said that Microsoft and OpenAI are 'paying for the chips they use in their factories' but seem to think it is okay to take content produced by hard-working journalists without consent or compensation. 'It is not,' he added.