Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement
The publishers allege their articles were scraped, including by bypassing paywalls, to train AI models without permission.
The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of using copyrighted news articles to train artificial-intelligence models without permission.
The publishers allege in the lawsuit that articles were “methodically scraped”, including through methods that bypassed paywalls. They claim the alleged use has given audiences an AI-generated alternative to news coverage, damaging traffic, digital advertising revenue and their broader business models.
The lawsuit also alleges that the AI systems generated false information attributed to the two news organisations and removed copyright-management information from articles.
The case adds to a growing series of legal actions by publishers against AI companies. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 over similar allegations, while CNN has sued Perplexity for alleged copyright infringement.
Other publishers have pursued licensing arrangements. The Associated Press and Vox Media have entered partnerships allowing OpenAI to use their material.
The allegations made by Seattle Times and Newsday have not been established in court. The source material does not include responses from OpenAI or Microsoft.
