Unsealed court documents from the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal communications showing the companies were aware they were creating a 'doom loop' that would damage the web, characterized their data scraping as 'the largest theft of labor in human history,' and acknowledged their models memorize and regurgitate copyrighted content verbatim despite knowing this violates fair use principles.
Unsealed court documents from The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal admissions that AI training practices constitute theft and pose existential threats to publishers. Microsoft executives acknowledged that their Copilot product caused New York Times traffic to drop 93%, and internal communications show concern about harming content creators whose work trained the models. The case raises questions about whether AI companies' unlicensed use of copyrighted material qualifies as fair use.
Unsealed court documents from The New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal admissions that AI training practices constituted theft and posed existential threats to publishers. Microsoft executives acknowledged bypassing paywalls, mass scraping content, and stripping copyright notices, while data showed their Copilot product reduced Times traffic by up to 93%, directly harming the original content creators' business.
Negativland, an experimental multimedia collective founded in 1980, pioneered the practice of culture jamming by blending found and original audio material across albums, performances, and radio broadcasts. After a 1991 copyright lawsuit by U2, the band became advocates for fair use and artistic freedom, inspiring Hosler's 140+ lectures on art and copyright law worldwide.