The Trump administration is supporting OpenAI in the NYT copyright lawsuit
The Trump administration has intervened in The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, making an argument in favor of the AI lab. The landmark lawsuit, filed in December 2023, alleging that OpenAI unlawfully trained its AI systems on articles from The New York Times and seeks to recoup "billions of dollars" in damages from…
Opening of the original on The Verge AI
Summary
The Trump administration is backing OpenAI in its copyright dispute with The New York Times. The administration filed a statement supporting OpenAI's position that training AI models on copyrighted material constitutes fair use. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023, seeking billions in damages for alleged unlawful use of its articles to train AI systems. This intervention adds a significant political dimension to the ongoing legal battle over AI training data.
Why it matters
The Trump administration's intervention in the OpenAI copyright case is a notable development. By supporting OpenAI's fair use argument, it signals a potential political stance on AI development and data usage. This affects how AI companies, including competitors like Google Gemini and Anthropic, might approach training data and potential legal challenges. The administration's involvement could influence future policy discussions around AI regulation and intellectual property. Observers should watch how this legal precedent impacts other AI companies and their reliance on publicly available web data for training.
Related: Google: Claude's new system prompt really doesn't want to reproduce song lyrics · Anthropic: “Zlibrary my beloved”: Anthropic staff chats extolling piracy cited in Sony suit · Microsoft: Content exclusions generally available in Copilot app and CLI · Meta: Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit · xAI: Child sexual abuse survivor alleges Elon Musk’s AI chatbot used photos of her to generate new illegal images
Rated middle: a real update, not a headline event.
- Justice Dept. Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright SuitNew York Times Technology · Web · Sep 2, 2026
- US government sides with OpenAI on issue of training LLMs on copyrighted materialTechCrunch AI · Web · Sep 2, 2026
- Trump administration sides with OpenAI in lawsuit against New York TimesThe Guardian AI · Web · Sep 2, 2026
- Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright LawsuitWIRED AI · Web · Sep 2, 2026
- The OpenAI HuggingFace attack is pure stupidityDavid Shapiro · Web · Aug 27, 2026
- Sam Altman Says OpenAI Has Fumbled at Communicating AI BenefitsBloomberg Technology · Web · Sep 3, 2026
- The OpenAI HuggingFace attack is pure stupidityDavid Shapiro
Questions people ask
- What is the core of The New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI?
- The New York Times alleges that OpenAI unlawfully trained its AI systems on articles from the Times and is seeking billions in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft.
- What is the Trump administration's stance in the lawsuit?
- The Trump administration filed a statement of interest supporting OpenAI, arguing that training AI models on copyrighted text is fair use.
More from The Verge AI 3 more
Page generated Sep 3, 2026. Summaries are Subvolts' own; the story belongs to The Verge AI.