Microsoft, OpenAI GenAI Tools Copied Millions of Copyrighted NYT Articles, Alleges Complaint

Microsoft's and OpenAI's generative AI (GenAI) tools rely on large-language models “that were built by copying and using” millions of New York Times copyrighted news articles, in violation of the Copyright Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other statutes, alleged the NYT’s complaint Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-11195) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan.

Through Microsoft’s Bing Chat, recently rebranded as Copilot, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the two companies “seek to free-ride” on NYT’s “massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment,” said the seven-count, 69-page infringement complaint. It seeks a permanent injunction, plus statutory damages and compensatory damages and restitution.

Microsoft and OpenAI “have refused to recognize” U.S. copyright protections, said the complaint. Their GenAI tools can generate output that “recites” NYT content verbatim, “closely summarizes it, and mimics its expressive style, as demonstrated by scores of examples,” it said. Microsoft and OpenAI didn't immediately comment.