Unsealed Microsoft and OpenAI statements weaken NYT lawsuit defense

A New York court unsealed executive statements in The New York Times lawsuit over using millions of articles to train AI. Chatbots were called an "existential threat" to journalism and the training "the largest theft of labor in human history." The disclosures raise the odds of a major settlement with licensing or a NYT trial win.

• OpenAI allegedly copied millions of NYT articles to train its models
• Microsoft's Brent Hecht called the training "the largest theft of labor"
• Greg Brockman in 2017 cited motivation by "gazillions" from commercialization
• The DOJ on September 1 asked the court to deem AI training on copyright fair use