The Center for Investigative Reporting, America's longest-standing nonprofit newsroom behind Mother Jones and Reveal, has taken legal action against Microsoft and OpenAI for alleged copyright violations.
The lawsuit, filed in a New York district court on Thursday, accused the two tech giants of utilizing the news organization's copyrighted content without authorization or compensation. This legal move is part of a broader trend in which publishers and content creators challenge AI companies for alleged copyright violations.
OpenAI and Microsoft Faces Copyright Violation Allegations in New Lawsuit
The Center for Investigative Reporting asserted that OpenAI and Microsoft incorporated the news organization's journalistic works into AI training models without seeking permission.
The lawsuit specifically targets what the newsroom perceives as exploiting its content to enhance the capabilities of AI products, including generating summaries and analyses derived from original investigative reporting.
Monika Bauerlein, CEO of The Center for Investigative Reporting, described OpenAI and Microsoft's use of the nonprofit's content as exploitative and unauthorized.
She emphasized the issue of intellectual property rights in the digital age, in which AI technologies increasingly leverage the labor-intensive efforts of journalists without compensation or acknowledgment.
The lawsuit underscored broader concerns in the journalism community about AI's impact on the industry's economic sustainability and ethical standards.
According to Bauerlein, corporate entities' unchecked use of journalistic content undermines the viability of independent journalism and threatens public access to diverse and reliable information sources.
The lawsuit alleged that OpenAI violated the Copyright Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Mother Jones magazine was first published in 1976, and each issue's content is protected by copyright.
The Center for Investigative Reporting has maintained an online presence since 1993, and its radio show, Reveal, debuted in 2013.
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Wave of Lawsuits From News Organizations
This legal challenge is part of a wave of similar lawsuits initiated by prominent news organizations against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging systematic copyright infringement through the unsanctioned use of journalistic content.
As the lawsuit unfolds in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, it is expected to prompt extensive debate on the ethical implications of AI-driven content aggregation and the obligations of technology firms to respect intellectual property rights.
The legal proceedings will likely scrutinize OpenAI and Microsoft's practices regarding acquiring and utilizing third-party content for AI training. Other news organizations, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Denver Post, The Intercept, AlterNet, and Raw Story, have also filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft in the past few months.
"For-profit corporations like OpenAI and Microsoft can't simply treat the work of nonprofit and independent publishers as free raw material for their products," Bauerlein said in a statement. "If this practice isn't stopped, the public's access to truthful information will be limited to AI-generated summaries of a disappearing news landscape."
