USA Today becomes the latest publisher to sue OpenAI
The Verge Emma Roth
USA Today and local papers it owns are suing OpenAI for copying their articles to train AI. They want over $250 million and say the harm is still going on.
Based on reporting by The Verge, Emma Roth — read the original for the full story.
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USA Today Co., together with several local newspapers it owns, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI over claims that the company copied hundreds of thousands of its articles to train AI models. Reuters reported the filing earlier, and the publisher says the use was unauthorized.
In the complaint filed Thursday, USA Today Co. is asking for more than $250 million in damages. It says OpenAI’s use of its work has caused “real and continuing” harm to its outlets. That wording matters. This isn’t just about old articles sitting in a database somewhere; the publisher is arguing that the damage is ongoing.
The case adds to a growing stack of copyright fights facing OpenAI. The company is already dealing with a lawsuit from The New York Times, along with legal action from The Intercept, CNET owner Ziff Davis, CBC/Radio-Canada, and Encyclopaedia …
The bigger picture is getting harder for OpenAI to ignore. Publishers are no longer treating this as a philosophical dispute about AI and the web. They are putting dollar figures on it, filing in court, and saying their archives were taken without permission. That is a very different fight.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the bill coming due for the scrape-first era, and it’s not subtle. If a model company wants the world’s words, the world’s publishers are going to ask for the check. The AI crowd spent years pretending copyright was a side quest; turns out it was the main quest all along.
Read more about this at: The Verge