The New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft for infringing copyrighted work

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft on Wednesday, accusing them of using millions of the newspaper's articles without permission to help train artificial intelligence technologies.

The Times said it is the first major U.S. media organization to sue OpenAI and Microsoft, which created ChatGPT and other AI platforms, over copyright issues.

The nature of the lawsuit is said to uphold “independent journalism" as a vital component of democracy that has served for more than 170 years.

"Defendants seek to free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment," according to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

These generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot are supported by large language models, which are said to be trained on “millions of The Times’s copyrighted news articles, in-depth investigation, opinion pieces, reviews, how-to guides, and more.”

The Times is not seeking a specific amount of damages, but said it believes OpenAI and Microsoft have caused "billions of dollars" in damages for illegally copying and using its works.

OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.