In response, Microsoft argued that copyright law does not obstruct the development of large language models like ChatGPT, and that the content used to train such tools does not replace the market for original works. OpenAI, which had been in discussions with the NYT to license its content, admitted to using the newspaper's articles to develop ChatGPT, but denied that these significantly contributed to the training of its models. The company blamed any regurgitations of whole lines from articles on the bot's "inadvertent memorisation".
Key takeaways:
- Microsoft has accused The New York Times of “doomsday futurology” for predicting that ChatGPT could ruin the news business, and is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit that claims the artificial intelligence bot’s creator OpenAI engaged in copyright infringement.
- The New York Times is seeking billions of dollars in damages, claiming that Microsoft and OpenAI have unlawfully copied millions of articles to build the program.
- OpenAI responded to the lawsuit, claiming that it had “intentionally manipulated” its chatbot, tricking it into regurgitating whole lines from articles published by the newspaper.
- The New York Times case is one of several lawsuits filed against ChatGPT’s creators and investors, including by bestselling authors such as John Grisham and Jodi Picoult.