Key facts
- The New York Times, Daily News, and other media outlets are seeking sanctions against OpenAI.
- The outlets allege OpenAI engaged in 'discovery misconduct' by hiding and destroying evidence related to AI training data.
- Plaintiffs claim OpenAI misled the court about its ability to search for copyrighted material used in training ChatGPT.
- OpenAI denies the allegations, stating it is protecting user privacy and adhering to fair use principles.
- The lawsuit is part of a broader legal battle over AI companies training models on copyrighted content.
The New York Times, along with the Daily News and other media organizations, is urging a federal judge to impose sanctions on OpenAI. The outlets allege that the ChatGPT maker has engaged in "discovery misconduct" by hiding and destroying evidence crucial to a copyright infringement lawsuit. Specifically, they claim OpenAI has misrepresented its ability to search for copyrighted material used in training its AI models.
In a filing, the plaintiffs asserted that OpenAI "chose obstruction" rather than releasing datasets and ChatGPT logs that could demonstrate how copyrighted news content was utilized. They argue that a recent deposition of an OpenAI employee contradicts the company's prior statements. Steven Lieberman, an attorney for the Daily News and its sister papers, stated that OpenAI has been making misrepresentations for two years regarding its capacity to search for copyrighted content within its AI training data.
OpenAI has refuted these claims, with spokesperson Drew Pusateri stating that the company is defending user privacy and fair use principles. Pusateri also suggested that the Times' case is weakening and that their efforts aim to invade user privacy with false allegations. The legal battle stems from The New York Times' lawsuit filed in late 2023, which contends that AI chatbots unfairly compete as information sources by siphoning web traffic without performing journalistic work.
The threat to news publications has been amplified by Google's introduction of AI-generated summaries in search results, which could reduce advertising revenue for original content creators. The Times' lawsuit, joined by other news organizations, focuses on the unfair competition posed by companies that allegedly "free-ride" on journalistic investments to build substitutive products without permission or payment. This approach differs from lawsuits brought by book authors, where OpenAI rival Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement for using copyrighted works in training its chatbot.