Seattle Times and Newsday Sue OpenAI and Microsoft for Copyright Infringement

The Seattle Times and Newsday have become the latest plaintiffs to file lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging widespread copyright infringement. The two prominent news outlets claim that OpenAI utilized their journalistic content as training data for its advanced AI models without obtaining proper permission. Furthermore, they assert that OpenAI's models frequently reproduce significant passages from their reporting in direct response to user queries. This legal action mirrors similar lawsuits previously initiated by other major publishers, including The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, and Encyclopedia Britannica, all targeting OpenAI for similar alleged infringements. Notably, The Seattle Times and Newsday have also named Microsoft as a co-defendant in their suit, citing that Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant is built upon OpenAI's underlying technology. These publishers now join a growing list of nearly 400 local newspapers that have recently taken legal action against the two tech giants over the unauthorized use of their copyrighted material.