Media companies sue OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright theft and seeking billions
U.S. media outlets—including The New York Times, the Daily News Group, Ziff Davis, the Center for Investigative Reporting and The Intercept—have filed a joint summary‑judgment brief in the Southern District of New York. The filing accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of infringing copyright by scraping and training large language models on their articles, bypassing paywalls, and presenting chatbot…
Key points
- Media outlets filed a joint lawsuit accusing OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement for training AI on their news articles.
- Internal executives called the practice “astonishing theft” and warned it threatens publishers’ business models.
- The Decoder says plaintiffs seek billions in damages and cites click‑through drops of 87‑93% (NYT), 83‑91% (Daily News), 51‑94% (Ziff Davis).
Only The Decoder reports that the plaintiffs are seeking “billions of dollars” in damages, citing a Financial Times estimate, and provides click‑through‑rate drops of 87‑93 % for The New York Times, 83‑91 % for the Daily News Group and 51‑94 % for Ziff Davis. The other outlets do not give those figures or the specific damage claim. The Decoder also notes OpenAI’s use of the 1.8 million‑article New York Times Annotated Corpus despite a non‑commercial license restriction.
The story so far
5 episodes →- Media companies sue OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright theft and seeking billionsthis story
AI training built on fair use looks shaky when the companies' own people call it "astonishing theft"
The Decoder · 18 September 2026
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This text was published by The Decoder and written by Matthias Bastian. It is reproduced here with attribution so you can read it in full; the rights remain with the publisher. Read it at the source ↗
Coverage and discussion
3sources- New Filing Shows OpenAI and Microsoft Debated AI Threats to the WebPress · macobserver.com ·
- AI Firms Knew Chatbots Were an ‘Existential Threat’ to Journalists, Court Docs ShowPress · cnet.com ·
The headline, key points and digest above were generated by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources. Automated summaries can contain errors: the sources are the record. Spotted a mistake? Tell us. Published by Martin K., who runs Digest AI and handles corrections.
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