OpenAI and Microsoft Executives Admitted AI Could Replace News Articles, Court Files Reveal

Summary

Unsealed court filings in The New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reportedly show that executives privately acknowledged their AI products could replace news articles and threaten the news industry. The case, filed in December 2023, alleges that the companies used millions of Times articles without permission to train AI models; in March 2025, Judge Sidney H. Stein allowed most of the core copyright claims to proceed. The Times later sought to amend its complaint, alleging that Microsoft encouraged OpenAI to use the newspaper’s articles without authorization. Bloomberg Law reported that Microsoft executives had also expressed concern about OpenAI’s use of paywalled Times and other publisher content, contrasting with the companies’ public defenses. OpenAI has argued that training on publicly available data is fair use, while a September 2026 U.S. Department of Justice brief supporting OpenAI said that using copyrighted text to train AI models generally does not constitute infringement. Publishers continue to challenge that position: The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft on September 4, alleging that hundreds of thousands of articles were copied for AI training and seeking destruction of models and datasets containing their content. The complaint cited a case in which ChatGPT allegedly reproduced 88 consecutive words after receiving a headline and link. The Times’ CEO said publishers must approve such uses and receive control and sustainable compensation. A group representing about 400 local newspapers filed a similar suit in June, underscoring the growing scale of the dispute.