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NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Times filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of unauthorized use of its articles to develop their artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
In its complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, the American daily accuses OpenAI and Microsoft of “taking advantage of the Times’ massive investment in its journalistic content to create substitute products without authorization or remuneration.”
OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The New York Times, which does not ask for a precise amount in terms of damages, claims that OpenAI and Microsoft have inflicted damage of several “billions of dollars”. It also asks them to destroy the chatbot models and learning tools that use the content it produces.
OpenAI, ChatGPT’s parent company, is 49% owned by Microsoft and is valued by investors at $80 billion.
Novelists such as David Baldacci, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham and Scott Turow have also filed a complaint against OpenAI and Microsoft in Manhattan court, denouncing use of their texts that they consider abusive.
In July, comedian Sarah Silverman filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta Platforms in San Francisco, accusing them of “ingesting” her book “The Bedwetter” in order to drive ChatGPT.
(Reporting Jonathan Stempel in New York; French version Kate Entringer)
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