New York Times sues OpenAI over alleged copyright infringement

The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement. “Millions of articles published by the New York Times were used without its permission to make ChatGPT smarter, and claims the tool is now competing with the newspaper as a trustworthy information source. When asked about current events, ChatGPT will sometimes generate "verbatim excerpts" from New York Times articles, which cannot be accessed without paying for a subscription. This means readers can get New York Times content without paying for it - meaning it is losing out on subscription revenue as well as advertising clicks from people visiting the website,” the lawsuit from NewYork Times stated. This incident is of relevance as ChatGPT is attempting to strike a deal with news agencies for AI-powered journalism. 

Although Microsoft declined to comment on the issue, OpenAI addressed the lawsuit. “The company had been moving forward constructively in conversations with The Times. We are surprised and disappointed by the lawsuit. We respect the rights of content creators and owners and are committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from A.I. technology and new revenue models. We’re hopeful that we will find a mutually beneficial way to work together, as we are doing with many other publishers,” OpenAI spokesperson Lindsey Held stated.