Sealed Memo Reveals Alarming Scale of AI Training Data Controversy

A recent unredacted filing in the New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft has shed light on the contentious issue of AI data economics.

The suit, which is ongoing, alleges that training datasets used by Copilot contained over 91,692 copies of works from the Times, Daily News, and Center for Investigative Reporting. It also claims that copyright notices were stripped from the training data, leading to a significant drop in NYT click-through rates, as high as 93% at one point.

The lawsuit is centered around a January 2023 internal memo, which remains sealed, but quotes a sentence attributed to Brent Hecht, Microsoft's director of applied science: 'the largest theft of labor in human history.'

This phrase has been widely circulated, but its context and significance are unclear due to the sealed status of the memo. It is not known whether it represents an internal criticism or admission.