OpenAI Disputes New York Times Copyright Lawsuit Over ChatGPT Training
OpenAI pushes back against a recent copyright infringement lawsuit from The New York Times, arguing that its AI training practices qualify as fair use. The company claims negotiations were progressing before the surprise legal action.
OpenAI publicly disagrees with a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by The New York Times, arguing that training artificial intelligence models on publicly available data qualifies as fair use. The AI startup states that it actively collaborates with news organizations to create new opportunities and provides an opt-out process for publishers. OpenAI emphasizes that it respects the value of journalistic content and seeks to build mutually beneficial partnerships in the AI era.
The company addresses the specific accusation of "regurgitation," which occurs when a chatbot outputs large memorized portions of a specific article. OpenAI characterizes this behavior as a rare bug rather than a standard feature of its technology. The startup insists that its engineers are actively working to drive this malfunction down to zero to prevent the unintentional replication of exact text.
OpenAI expresses surprise and disappointment over the timing of the December 27 lawsuit, noting that constructive negotiations appeared to be progressing just days earlier. The stalled discussions reportedly focused on a potential deal to display Times content with proper attribution inside ChatGPT, similar to a recent agreement with publisher Axel Springer. This legal battle represents just one of several ongoing copyright challenges facing major generative AI companies from authors and artists.