US administration supports OpenAI in New York Times copyright lawsuit

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in late 2023, alleging that their AI models used millions of articles for training without permission. The Justice Department stated in a court document that the creative possibilities and public benefits of large language model training outweigh any competitive harm, arguing that constraining LLM development based on a misunderstanding of fair use would hinder creative and scientific progress, as well as American prosperity. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward emphasized that AI dominance is critical for national security and economic mobility.

The Times' lawsuit relies on the "fair use" exception, which permits copyrighted work use without consent. The Justice Department contends that AI model training on written works is "exceedingly transformative," qualifying for this exception. A New York Times spokesman, Graham James, criticized the Justice Department for supporting "trillion-dollar AI companies" at the expense of American creators, stating that allowing companies to take content without permission or compensation would undermine the sustainability of human-created content.

This development follows a $1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic and authors over illegal copying for AI training, where a judge ruled some uses as "fair use" but othe