The New York Times Files Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft

The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement after it was reported that a chatbot provided users with "near-verbatim excerpts" from its articles. The lawsuit asserts that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing Chat, now known as Copilot, were trained using "millions of articles" from The Times, effectively allowing these AI-driven tools to compete directly with the publication for audience attention.

The allegations highlight a troubling practice known as "hallucination," where Bing Chat purportedly attributed information to The Times inaccurately. The lawsuit states, “Defendants seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism" by utilizing its content without compensation, thus undermining the paper's ability to connect with its audience.

Microsoft has established a strategic partnership with OpenAI, embedding its technology across its productivity solutions in Microsoft 365 and on the Azure cloud platform. The partnership has seen Microsoft invest $13 billion into OpenAI, securing 75% of the startup's profits until the investment is repaid, after which Microsoft will retain a 49% ownership stake in the company.

The Times maintains that it delivers "trustworthy information" in an "information ecosystem" overwhelmed with unreliable sources. In response to the perceived theft of content, the publication is seeking "billions of dollars" in both statutory and actual damages.

The lawsuit also provides insights into the technological scale of the AI models involved. The complaint notes that GPT-4 operates with an impressive 1.76 trillion parameters, a figure that OpenAI has not disclosed publicly. In comparison, GPT-2 had 1.5 billion parameters, a significant leap since the original GPT model. The larger models, such as GPT-3 with 175 billion parameters, reflect a focus on quality training data, which has likely prioritized content from The Times.

Additionally, The Times argues that users can ask ChatGPT to bypass paywalls, further complicating the issue of content access and monetization for publishers.

Filed in the federal district court in Manhattan, this lawsuit follows an unsuccessful negotiation between The Times, OpenAI, and Microsoft that began in April. In contrast, other media companies like Axel Springer, publisher of Politico and Business Insider, have successfully secured licensing deals with OpenAI, alongside the Associated Press, which achieved a similar arrangement in July.

In light of these developments, The Times has also taken proactive measures by appointing an editorial director of AI initiatives, tasked with establishing clear protocols for the responsible use of artificial intelligence within the newsroom. This strategic move underscores the publication's commitment to maintaining its journalistic integrity while navigating the complex landscape shaped by AI technologies.