The owner of eight major newspapers in cities across the U.S. is suing the makers of ChatGPT and Microsoft for copyright infringement.
The lawsuit claims that OpenAI and Microsoft have used millions of copyrighted articles to train their AI chatbots, "stealing our work to build their own businesses at our expense," according to New York Daily News, which is one of the plaintiffs.
"The misappropriation of news content by OpenAI and Microsoft undermines the business model for news. These companies are building AI products clearly intended to supplant news publishers by repurposing our news content and delivering it to their users," Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, which own seven of the newspapers, said in a statement to the Daily News.
All eight papers named as plaintiffs are owned by Alden Global Capital, including the Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Mercury News, Orange County Register, St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel -- in addition to the Daily News.
OpenAI and Microsoft are already facing legal challenges from the New York Times and a group of bestselling authors such as John Grisham and George R.R. Martin.
While Microsoft declined to comment on the lawsuit, OpenAI said its design process is intended to support news companies.
"We are actively engaged in constructive partnerships and conversations with many news organizations around the world to explore opportunities, discuss any concerns, and provide solutions," an OpenAI spokesperson told the Daily News. "We see immense potential for AI tools like ChatGPT to deepen publishers’ relationships with readers and enhance the news experience."
As reported by The Associated Press, "Tech companies have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible internet content to train their AI systems is protected by the 'fair use' doctrine of American copyright law."