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.
OpenAI and Microsoft face lawsuits from publishers and studios over using copyrighted works to train AI systems without compensation. Newly unsealed court documents reveal executives internally acknowledged the practice as 'theft of unprecedented proportions,' potentially undermining their fair use defense. The case hinges on whether AI training constitutes fair use or copyright infringement.
Unsealed court documents reveal Microsoft and OpenAI employees expressed serious concerns about using millions of news articles to train AI systems, with some calling it the "largest theft of labor in history." The New York Times and other publishers are suing the tech companies for copyright infringement, alleging they scraped articles without permission, while Microsoft and OpenAI defend their actions as protected fair use.
The New York Times and other media companies filed a court brief seeking billions in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in AI training, citing internal emails and testimony from company executives who called the practice "astonishing theft" and acknowledged that AI products substitute for original journalism, undermining their fair use defense.
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.
Unredacted filings in The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal admissions that AI training practices constitute 'theft' of copyrighted content. Microsoft and OpenAI executives acknowledged their models pose an 'existential threat' to publishers, with evidence showing Copilot reduced Times traffic by up to 93% and that paywalled content was scraped without authorization. The admissions undermine the companies' fair-use defense by demonstrating the technology directly substitutes for and harms the market value of original news content.
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.