Two more newsrooms join the case against OpenAI and Microsoft

The Seattle Times and Newsday have sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging the companies methodically scraped articles in a way that bypasses paywalls. The EU’s general-purpose AI code commits signatories not to circumvent access restrictions, naming subscription models and paywalls specifically.

The Seattle Times and Newsday have jointly sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the training of AI models on their journalism. The two called generative AI “a snake eating its own tail“, Engadget reported.

The complaint alleges the companies were methodically scraping news articles in a way that bypasses paywalls. That is a claim about how the material was obtained, not only about what was done with it.

It says the result offers readers an AI-generated alternative to the articles themselves, cutting traffic and digital advertising revenue.

It also alleges the models hallucinate, attributing false information to the two outlets, and that copyright management information was stripped from articles.

They join the New York Times, which sued in 2023, and the 400 local newspapers already in the litigation. Others, including AP and Vox Media, licensed their archives to OpenAI instead.

The timing is pointed. Microsoft asked the same court on the same day to reject the two theories this complaint rests on, lost licensing fees and market dilution.