Publishers Challenge DOJ Support for OpenAI in Copyright Infringement Case

News publishers are pushing back against the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) support for OpenAI's argument that training its AI models on copyrighted works is fair use. In a court filing, The New York Times Co., Daily News, and other publishers asked a federal judge to disregard the DOJ's statement, citing the agency's lack of access to critical evidence.

The DOJ filed its statement in support of OpenAI on September 1, before the plaintiff publishers and defendants had submitted their respective motions for summary judgment. The media outlets argue that the DOJ's position is based on the Trump administration's policy favoring AI development, rather than a thorough examination of the copyright issues at hand.

The publishers point out that despite two years of fact discovery, the DOJ did not consider any of this evidence before filing its statement. They also note that Microsoft executive testimony revealed that the AI industry's use of copyrighted content could be the 'largest theft of labor in human history.'