Microsoft and OpenAI Face Lawsuit Over AI Scraping Practices

• •Microsoft and OpenAI accused of copyright violations through AI scraping.
• •Internal documents reveal executives view scraping as theft and a threat to journalism.
• •Click-through rates for news organizations have dropped significantly due to AI products.

Newly unsealed documents in a lawsuit by The New York Times against Microsoft and OpenAI reveal that AI scraping of news content is viewed internally as a significant threat and a form of theft. Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht described the scraping as 'the largest theft of labor in human history.' The documents indicate that the companies allegedly bypassed paywalls and stripped copyright notices while building training datasets. Data shows that click-through rates for news organizations have plummeted, with declines of 83-93% for some publishers. This has raised concerns about the economic viability of journalism and the future of responsible AI. The lawsuit is set to go to trial, with news organizations prepared to argue that AI products are substitutive and harm their market. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged that content behind paywalls should be licensed, suggesting internal recognition of the legal implications of their practices.