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Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI training

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Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI training

The Seattle Times and Newsday have sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of using their journalism to train generative AI systems without authorization. The lawsuit argues that AI threatens to leave the news industry "broken beyond repair," describing generative AI as "a snake eating its own tail" that could "destroy the very organizations" whose content it was trained on. The filing goes further, calling AI products like ChatGPT and Copilot "rapacious consumers" that devour human-authored journalism and hand back "copies and derivative imitations of that same original content they consumed to achieve their commercial objectives," rather than genuine producers of new content. The two papers are not the first to bring this fight. The New York Times sued OpenAI and its partner and investor Microsoft over alleged copyright infringement back in 2023, and other publications have filed similar suits as that case has continued. The Seattle Times' involvement stands out because Microsoft and OpenAI have previously funded some of the paper's own journalism projects and fellowships, meaning the newspaper is now suing two organizations it has also taken money from. A Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire the company is "surprised by the lawsuit" but is "always happy to sit down and explore solutions to this type of dispute." OpenAI did not offer a response in the report. Neither a filing date, a court, nor a specific damages figure was disclosed for the new suit.

Key facts

  • The Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging their journalism was used to train AI without permission.
  • The lawsuit calls generative AI "a snake eating its own tail" that could leave the news industry "broken beyond repair."
  • It brands AI products like ChatGPT and Copilot "rapacious consumers" of human-authored content rather than genuine producers.
  • The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright infringement in 2023, and other publishers have since filed similar suits.
  • Microsoft and OpenAI have previously funded some of The Seattle Times' journalism projects and fellowships, making this suit notable; a Microsoft spokesperson says the company was "surprised" but open to discussing solutions.

Why it matters

This is another entry in the widening legal fight between news publishers and AI companies over training data, a fight that started with The New York Times in 2023 and has since drawn in more newsrooms. The Seattle Times and Newsday's filing sharpens the industry's core argument: that generative AI does not create new content but repackages journalism it consumed without paying for it, threatening the economics that fund reporting in the first place.

Who it affects

The Seattle Times and Newsday, as plaintiffs, and OpenAI and Microsoft, as defendants, are directly involved. The case also matters to The New York Times and the other publications that have already sued over the same underlying practice, since a ruling in any one case could shape how the rest proceed. More broadly, it concerns any news organization whose archives may have been used to train AI models.

How to use it

There is no product, price or licence here for readers to act on; this is litigation, not a release. Publishers weighing their own legal options can note the specific language this suit uses, framing AI outputs as "derivative imitations" rather than original work, as one template for how the argument is being made in court.

How solid is it

The report is based on the lawsuit's own filing and a statement from a Microsoft spokesperson to GeekWire, giving both the plaintiffs' claims and a defendant's response. What is missing from the account: the filing date, the court or jurisdiction, any damages figure sought, the specific journalism projects or fellowships Microsoft and OpenAI funded at The Seattle Times, the current status of the 2023 New York Times case, and any response from OpenAI itself.

Risks and caveats

The claims described here, that AI training on this content amounted to infringement and that the industry could be "broken beyond repair," are the plaintiffs' allegations, not established facts or a court finding. Microsoft's reply signals it disputes the characterization while remaining open to a negotiated resolution. How the case will be resolved, and on what timeline, is not yet known.

“AI products like ChatGPT and CoPilot are touted as producers of content, but in fact they are rapacious consumers, devouring human-authored content and delivering back to the world copies and derivative imitations of that same original content they consumed to achieve their commercial objectives”

— The Seattle Times and Newsday's lawsuit