Mumbai: A coalition of nearly 400 local and regional newspaper publishers across the United States has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of unlawfully using news content to train their artificial intelligence models without authorisation or compensation.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, has been brought by a group of print and digital publishers led by Richner Communications. The publishers allege that OpenAI and Microsoft systematically copied copyrighted journalism to develop AI products including ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot.
Represented by former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, the plaintiffs claim the technology companies violated the Copyright Act by scraping articles from hundreds of news websites, including content protected by paywalls and other access restrictions.
According to the complaint, the publishers allege OpenAI and Microsoft copied articles and other original works onto their servers without permission before stripping copyright management information such as author names, publication identities, copyright notices, and usage terms. They argue that removing such information enabled the companies to disconnect the content from its rightful owners before using it to train large language models.
The lawsuit further claims the AI models memorised portions of the publishers’ journalism and have been capable of reproducing identical or substantially similar content in response to user prompts.
Seeking statutory and actual damages, restitution of profits, legal costs, and other relief, the publishers accuse both companies of three separate counts of copyright infringement.
In the complaint, the coalition argues that the alleged practices threaten the sustainability of local journalism at a time when the industry is already under significant economic pressure. The filing states that local news organisations continue to play a critical role in strengthening civic participation, community engagement, and government accountability.
The complaint also describes Microsoft as a key commercial partner of OpenAI, noting that the technology giant has supported the AI company since making its initial $1 billion investment in 2019.
The legal action adds to the growing number of copyright disputes facing OpenAI over the use of published content to train artificial intelligence systems. Earlier this year, Encyclopedia Britannica and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster filed a similar lawsuit alleging unauthorised use of their copyrighted material in developing ChatGPT.
OpenAI, founded in 2015, has emerged as one of the world’s most valuable AI companies. Earlier this year, the company reported it was targeting an $852 billion valuation following a $122 billion fundraising round backed by investors including Amazon, SoftBank, and Nvidia.
Representatives of OpenAI and Microsoft had not publicly responded to requests for comment at the time of the lawsuit’s filing.
The latest case is expected to further intensify the legal debate surrounding the use of copyrighted content for AI training, an issue increasingly shaping the relationship between technology companies, publishers, and content creators worldwide.
