Eight newspapers sue Open AI and Microsoft for copyright infringement

Eight American newspapers sued OpenAI and Microsoft on Tuesday, for alleged copyright infringement related to their chatbots, which they claim have been stealing millions of copyrighted articles without permission.

The lawsuit comes after the New York Times filed their own suit against both companies in December. Authors such as Games of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin, John Grisham, and Jodi Picoult have also sued the companies for copyright infringement. 

The papers in the latest lawsuit are owned by Alden Global Capital, and operated by MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, and include the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Orange County Register, and Mercury News, among others. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in New York.

“We’ve spent billions of dollars gathering information and reporting news at our publications, and we can’t allow OpenAI and Microsoft to expand the Big Tech playbook of stealing our work to build their own businesses at our expense,” Frank Pine, the executive editor for the MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press.

Tech companies have refuted the argument that they have infringed on copyrighted materials by claiming their actions are protected by the "fair use" doctrine. Tech companies have been using material from news publications to train their artificial intelligence operated chatbots.

Microsoft has not issued a response to Tuesday's lawsuit, but OpenAI said it tries to support news organizations, and was not previously aware of the concerns from Alden Global Capital.

“While we were not previously aware of Alden Global Capital’s concerns, we are actively engaged in constructive partnerships and conversations with many news organizations around the world to explore opportunities, discuss any concerns, and provide solutions,” the company said.

Some news organizations, including the Associated Press, have reached deals to partner with tech companies like OpenAI.