Seattle Times and Newsday Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over AI Training

The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft over the alleged use of their journalism to train AI. TechCrunch describes them as two more news organizations joining legal action against the companies. The case adds to an expanding conflict between publishers and AI companies over how journalistic work is used in generative AI systems.

The lawsuit argues that AI could leave the journalism industry “broken beyond repair.” It describes generative AI as “a snake eating its own tail” and warns that it could “destroy the very organizations” that produce the content on which it is trained. The complaint says AI products such as ChatGPT and CoPilot are presented as content producers but are also “rapacious consumers” of human-authored work.

The lawsuit follows The New York Times’ 2023 case against OpenAI and Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement, with other publications filing similar claims as that case continued. TechCrunch notes that The Seattle Times’ lawsuit is especially notable because Microsoft and OpenAI have funded some of the organization’s journalism projects and fellowships. That detail underscores how publisher-platform relationships around AI can be collaborative and adversarial at the same time.

A Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire that the company was “surprised by the lawsuit” but is “always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type of dispute.” The next key issue is whether these disputes push AI companies and publishers toward licensing, settlements, or continued litigation. For readers, the practical takeaway is that the legal rules around AI training and copyrighted journalism remain unsettled and increasingly contested.