The Trump administration has filed a statement of interest in the copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft. The legal action commenced in December 2023 and claims that the AI company used newspaper articles to train its systems without permission. The government argues that this training constitutes fair use under current doctrine. The administration contends that The New York Times is attempting to narrow the definition of fair use specifically to exclude the training of large language models. This intervention supports OpenAI’s position that using copyrighted text for machine learning purposes is legally permissible. The case seeks billions of dollars in damages from both OpenAI and its partner Microsoft.
This government backing shifts the legal pressure onto the newspaper rather than the technology firm. It signals that the executive branch views the training of AI models on existing text as a protected activity. The outcome will determine how much control publishers retain over data used to build generative systems. A ruling in favour of OpenAI could set a precedent for other media organisations facing similar claims. Conversely, a loss for the AI company might force significant changes in how models are trained. The decision will likely influence future negotiations between tech giants and news publishers.
* The lawsuit was filed in December 2023.
* The government supports the fair use argument.
* Damages sought from Microsoft and OpenAI total billions.
