AI chatbots threaten ‘independent journalism’, the US paper of record has said
The New York Times filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, claiming their artificial intelligence (AI) platforms represent unfair competition and a menace to the free press and society.
This is the first copyright challenge from a major American media organization, according to the Times. The newspaper has asked the federal court in Manhattan to hold the defendants responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages” for their “unlawful copying and use of The Times’s uniquely valuable works.” It also demanded that the companies destroy any chatbot models and training data that have used the outlet’s copyrighted material.
“Defendants seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism,” said the complaint, accusing Microsoft and OpenAI of “using The Times’s content without payment to create products that substitute for The Times and steal audiences away from it.”
Microsoft has reportedly committed to invest $13 billion into OpenAI and has already used some of its technology in its search engine, Bing.
In one example cited in the lawsuit, the ChatGPT-powered Browse With Bing featured results “reproduced almost verbatim” from the Times’ product review site Wirecutter, but did not attribute the content and removed the referral links used by the newspaper to generate commissions from sales, resulting in loss of revenue.
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