Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft

The lawsuit describes generative AI as “a snake eating its own tail” that could “destroy the very organizations” that produce the content it’s trained on. “AI products like ChatGPT and CoPilot are touted as producers of content, but in fact they are rapacious consumers, devouring human-authored content and delivering back to the world copies and derivative imitations of that same original content they consumed to achieve their commercial objectives,” the lawsuit said.

The filing follows The New York Times’ 2023 lawsuit against OpenAI and its partner and investor Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement, a case other publications have joined as it has continued. The Seattle Times’ suit is particularly notable because Microsoft and OpenAI have funded some of the organization’s journalism projects and fellowships. A Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire that the company is “surprised by the lawsuit” but is “always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type of dispute.”

Why it matters

Each new publisher lawsuit adds pressure on OpenAI and Microsoft to reach licensing settlements with news organizations — even ones, like the Seattle Times, that have taken funding from the same companies they’re now suing.