New York Times alleges OpenAI and Microsoft committed 'astonishing theft' of copyrighted articles in AI training

In a court filing unsealed on September 17, 2026, The New York Times accused OpenAI and Microsoft of committing "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions" by using millions of copyrighted news articles to train AI models. The filing, part of a lawsuit originally brought in 2023, alleges that OpenAI scraped content from over 10 million articles, with nearly a third from the Times. Internal communications show OpenAI's president approved a method to bypass the Times' paywall, and a Microsoft executive called the scraping "an astonishing theft." Microsoft responded that the executive's comments were his personal opinion. The plaintiffs seek billions in damages, while OpenAI and Microsoft argue fair use. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief supporting the AI companies.