Eight daily newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital have sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the alleged illegal use of their articles to teach language models.
Tech giants have been accused of using millions of articles to teach generative AI products, including ChatGPT and Copilot. The publications claim that they did not give their permission, and all materials are copyrighted.
The list of plaintiffs includes the following publications:
The New York Daily News;The Chicago Tribune;The Orlando Sentinel;The Sun Sentinel of Florida;The San Jose Mercury News;The Denver Post;The Orange County Register;The St. Paul Pioneer Press.The lawsuit alleges that chatbots regularly reproduced the full texts of the articles behind the "paywalls" without specifying the sources. This, according to the authors of the complaint, reduced the need for readers to pay for premium access to support local newspapers and deprived publishers of income from both subscriptions and licensing of their content elsewhere.
"We have spent billions of dollars collecting information and covering news in our publications, and we cannot allow OpenAI and Microsoft to build their business at our expense," said Frank Pine, executive editor in charge of Alden newspapers.
The plaintiffs demand to hold a trial with the participation of a jury and pay them compensation for the use of copyrighted content.
An OpenAI spokeswoman said the company was "previously unaware" of the publisher's concerns. The startup is currently collaborating and negotiating with many news organizations to explore potential opportunities.
"Together with our partners in the news industry, we see the huge potential of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT to deepen publishers' relationships with readers and improve the news experience," she said.
A Microsoft representative declined to comment.
AI tarnishes the reputation of newspapers
Lawyers representing Alden newspapers accuse OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement, unfair competition through misappropriation and trademark erosion.
The plaintiffs claim that the chatbots falsely attributed inaccurate or misleading reports to the publications, "discrediting the reputation and spreading dangerous information."
As an example, they cite ChatGPT's response to a query about which baby chaise longue The Chicago Tribune recommends. According to the complaint, the chatbot replied that The Tribune advises the Boppy product.
However, in fact, this chaise longue was withdrawn from sale after it was linked to the deaths of infants. Also, the newspaper has never recommended him in its publications.
In another incident, a chatbot claimed that The Denver Post had published a study on the benefits of smoking to treat asthma. In fact, this has never happened, the complaint says.
"This issue affects not only the business interests of several newspapers or the news industry as a whole. [...] It is a critical issue for American civic life," the lawsuit says.
Content Authors against Big Tech
This lawsuit has joined the ranks of lawsuits concerning the use of data for AI training. Online information such as articles, Wikipedia posts and other content is increasingly becoming a source for a booming industry.
A recent investigation by The New York Times revealed that many technology companies ignored copyright policies. They also allegedly discussed the possibility of circumventing the relevant law in an attempt to get as much data as possible for training chatbots.
Publishers have also paid attention to the use of their content. In December 2023, the NYT sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of using copyrighted articles to train chatbots. Subsequently, they competed with the newspaper as a source of news and information, the complaint alleges.
Microsoft has secured the dismissal of part of the lawsuit. She also argued that the NYT had not proven the actual damage and that large language models had not replaced the market for news articles. OpenAI has put forward a similar argument.
Some other publications have tried to negotiate compensation with technology companies. The Financial Times has signed a deal with OpenAI, allowing it to use its content to train artificial intelligence. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
OpenAI has also signed agreements with German publishing giant Axel Springer (Business Insider and Politico), The Associated Press and French news outlet Le Monde.
Recall that in January, a group of American writers accused OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement in AI training.
8 Newspapers vsOpenAI and Microsoft by ForkLog AI on Scribd