Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI training on journalism
Two news organizations have sued OpenAI and Microsoft alleging unauthorized use of their journalism to train AI models, in a pattern similar to The New York Times' 2023 lawsuit.
What happened
The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft alleging unauthorized use of their journalism to train AI models. The complaint describes generative AI as consuming human-authored content and producing derivative imitations for commercial purposes, characterizing the industry impact as potentially breaking journalism "beyond repair." This action follows The New York Times' 2023 lawsuit on similar copyright infringement grounds. Microsoft and OpenAI have previously funded some of The Seattle Times' journalism projects and fellowships, making this suit particularly notable. Microsoft stated it was surprised by the lawsuit but expressed willingness to discuss solutions.
Context
The lawsuits reflect a fundamental tension: AI systems require large datasets of existing content to function, but news organizations argue they receive no compensation or control over how their work is used and republished in derivative form. If AI products can serve as substitutes for the original news content—delivering similar information to readers without driving traffic or revenue to publishers—the economic model supporting professional journalism is threatened. The pattern of multiple publishers suing suggests this dispute will shape how content licensing and AI training data access are negotiated across the industry going forward.
What's disputed
Whether the use of published journalism in AI training constitutes copyright infringement or falls within fair use; whether AI-generated content constitutes legally actionable derivative works; the proper compensation mechanism, if any, for content used in training.