Government Backs OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Case

The Trump administration has filed a brief supporting OpenAI in its dispute with the New York Times and several other newspapers over the company’s use of their work to train the large language models behind ChatGPT, saying AI training generally makes fair use of copyrighted material.

The brief, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, appears to be the first time the U.S. government has weighed in on a wave of cases brought by copyright owners including authors, publishers, music labels and news outlets over AI training, in a development that could bolster tech companies as they fight the claims.

“The United States has a strong interest in this court rejecting any argument that training LLMs on copyrighted texts violates copyright law” based on concerns including scientific advancement and national security, the brief said.

Spokespeople for the White House, the Times and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the filing on Wednesday.

The lawsuit, first filed by the Times in 2023, accuses ⁠OpenAI and its largest financial backer, Microsoft MSFT.O, of using millions of newspaper articles without permission to train OpenAI’s popular chatbot. The case is one of dozens brought by copyright holders against tech companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms for what they say is misuse of their material to train AI systems.

All of the pending cases will likely revolve around whether AI systems make fair use of copyrighted material by using it to create new, transformative content. The first two judges to consider the issue issued diverging rulings last year.

The government agreed on Tuesday with tech companies that AI training is “extraordinarily” transformative.

“Beyond the subject matter of this litigation, LLMs are already helping researchers across fields achieve major breakthroughs,” the brief said. “Constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility.”

(Reporting by Brittain in Washington; Editing by Rod Nickel)