The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the companies used their journalism as training data without permission and that AI products reproduce passages from their reporting in response to user queries, according to The Verge and TechCrunch. The lawsuit described generative AI as "a snake eating its own tail" that could "destroy the very organizations" producing the content it is trained on, and argued the journalism industry could become "broken beyond repair." Microsoft was named as a defendant because its Copilot product is built on OpenAI's technology. As part of the suit, the plaintiffs are seeking the destruction of any copies of their works the companies hold, along with training datasets and AI models that incorporate them. The complaint is similar to actions filed by The New York Times in 2023, as well as Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, and Encyclopedia Britannica. The Verge reported the publishers join nearly 400 local newspapers that recently sued the two companies, arguing the chatbots reduce visits to their sites and cost them subscription revenue. A Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire the company was "surprised by the lawsuit" but "always happy to sit down and explore solutions." OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.
- The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged copyright infringement over AI training
- Plaintiffs seek destruction of works, training datasets, and AI models incorporating their content
- They join nearly 400 local newspapers and prior suits from The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica
What it means for you
Another set of news publishers is suing OpenAI and Microsoft over how their journalism was used to build AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot. For you as a user, nothing changes today — these cases take years and the tools keep working. But collectively these suits could reshape what AI models are allowed to be trained on, and eventually what they can tell you.
Who should care
People following the legal ground rules around AI, and publishers or content creators weighing whether their own work is being scraped for AI training.
Skip this if
You just use AI tools to get work done and don't need to track the industry's legal battles — this won't affect your day-to-day.
Sources: TechCrunch AI, The Verge AI — read the original