DOJ backed OpenAI and Microsoft in the New York Times copyright case

Axios · 20 September 2026, 17:30 ● Covered by 5 sources

The Justice Department backed OpenAI and Microsoft in the New York Times copyright case. It argued AI training can qualify as transformative fair use, while treating model outputs separately. The case framing shifts toward evaluating training and outputs under different copyright fair-use standards.

Why it matters

The Justice Department backed OpenAI and Microsoft in the New York Times copyright case. It argued AI training can qualify as transformative fair use while treating model outputs separately.