In the midst of a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of content to train AI, OpenAI suddenly asked the New York Times (NYT) to prove copyright for the articles that were allegedly infringed.
The lawsuit stems from NYT's allegations that OpenAI used its articles to train AI models without permission or compensation. OpenAI objected, arguing that using documents "collected" from the internet is reasonable.
On July 1, according to TorrentFreak, OpenAI's lawyer filed a petition with the New York court, asking the judge overseeing the case to force NYT to prove copyright for "copyright-protected works", which are understand most of the articles the NYT has published online.
Specifically, OpenAI asked NYT to provide details about the authorship process of each article, including reporter's notes, interview memos, cited documents records, and other related documents.
The NYT side objected to this request in its response on July 3, arguing that OpenAI's request was "unprecedented" and "overturned copyright law." NYT lawyers assert that the way copyrighted material is created is irrelevant to how that material is used in this case.
As of July 4, no further documents have been released and a response from the judge is still awaited.
If the court grants OpenAI's request, it could create a new legal precedent, forcing publishers to disclose their content creation process when filing copyright infringement lawsuits. This could change the way copyright lawsuits are handled and affect parties that widely use digital content, including AI platforms.
The lawsuit between NYT and OpenAI is not only a legal battle over copyright but also a fight over the right to control and use data in the digital era. The outcome of the lawsuit will have a profound impact on how technology companies and publishers cooperate in the future.