In 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI—and its largest investor, Microsoft—for "systematic and competitive infringement," accusing the companies of illegally using copyrighted material to develop their AI models. After other publishers filed their own lawsuits, the cases were consolidated last year in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department sent a statement of interest arguing the Times' position is "inconsistent with basic copyright law principles" and could "severely hamper 'the Progress of Science and useful Arts.'" Training AI models on copyrighted material "in and of itself," the administration says, is not a violation of copyright laws.
