On December 27, 2023, The New York Times fired the first major shot in what could become AI's defining legal battle.

They sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, claiming billions in damages for using millions of NYT articles to train GPT models without permission or payment.

This wasn't just another lawsuit. This was the most prestigious news organization in America arguing that AI companies built their empires on stolen content.

The Allegations

The Times' lawsuit was detailed and damning:

Millions of articles used: NYT content appeared extensively in training data No permission sought: OpenAI never asked or paid Direct competition: ChatGPT now competes with NYT for readers Verbatim reproduction: GPT models could reproduce NYT articles nearly word-for-word Paywalled content: Even subscriber-only content was used for training

The lawsuit argued this was "willful copyright infringement on an almost unimaginable scale."

The Stakes

Billions in damages: Each infringed work could mean statutory damages Precedent setting: First major media company to sue Industry impact: Dozens of publishers watching closely Business model threat: If NYT wins, AI training becomes legally questionable

The outcome could reshape how AI companies source training data.

Where Are They Now?

The lawsuit is ongoing as of early 2025. OpenAI has argued fair use and that removing specific copyrighted content from models is technically challenging.

Other publishers have since sued or threatened to sue. Some have signed licensing deals instead.

December 27, 2023 marked the beginning of AI's copyright reckoning—a legal battle that will define whether training AI on copyrighted content is theft or transformation.