NYT-Led Group Seeks Sanctions Against OpenAI in Copyright Case

The New York Times, the Daily News, and other media outlets have asked a federal judge to impose sanctions on OpenAI for allegedly hiding evidence in their ongoing copyright dispute. According to multiple reports, the newspapers claim that OpenAI has engaged in "discovery misconduct" by concealing datasets and ChatGPT logs that could show how the AI system used copyrighted news content.

In a filing submitted Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the plaintiffs allege that OpenAI made false claims about its ability to search for copyrighted material within its large language models. The newspapers argue that OpenAI has been "making misrepresentations" for two years regarding this capability, as reported by The Los Angeles Times and Reuters. According to the filing, an OpenAI employee's recent deposition contradicts the company's earlier statements.

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri responded to these allegations, stating that "As the Times’ case weakens and they’ve been forced to drop claims against us, they’re persisting with their efforts to invade the privacy of people who have nothing to do with this case." The company argues that releasing ChatGPT conversation logs would risk violating users' privacy. OpenAI has previously told the court that it did not have tools to search its datasets and output logs for copyrighted material, but later an employee testified that the company had performed such searches.

The lawsuit was initially filed by The New York Times in late 2023, accusing OpenAI and Microsoft of using millions of articles without permission to train their AI technologies. This case is part of a broader legal battle involving copyright owners, including authors, visual artists, and music labels, who have brought similar claims against tech companies like Anthropic and Meta Platforms.

The New York Times has already spent more than $28 million on fighting AI companies in court, according to filings with financial regulators. The mounting costs come as a growing number of media organizations have signed licensing deals with OpenAI and other AI companies, typically paying fees to train AI systems on their news feeds or archives.