AI Firms Knew Chatbots Were an ‘Existential Threat’ to Journalists, Court Docs Show

In a declassified court document, publishers quote Microsoft and OpenAI executives acknowledging that training LLMs on copyrighted content is the “largest theft of labor in history” and that chatbots pose an “existential threat” to the press. The document was filed in consolidated lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, including suits by The New York Times and Ziff Davis.

• Microsoft applied science director Brent Hecht called LLM training “theft on an unprecedented scale”
• Satya Nadella testified that paywalled content should be licensed
• An OpenAI employee told Greg Brockman about bypassing the NYT paywall; he replied “ah nice”
• Microsoft argues LLM training is transformative use compatible with copyright