Microsoft filed legal documents in September 2026 arguing that its Copilot AI chatbot almost never reproduced meaningful portions of copyrighted news articles or books, as the company seeks an early dismissal of copyright lawsuits brought by publishers including The New York Times and a group of book authors.
As part of discovery, Microsoft provided 8.2 million Copilot chat logs — selected specifically because they contained keywords tied to news publishers’ websites — to an expert hired by the plaintiffs. Of those logs, 59,545 contained at least 16 words in common with news content. An expert for the Center for Investigative Reporting identified 51 instances of “substantial overlap” with CIR work. In the authors’ case, only 24 responses across the 8.2 million conversations contained at least 30 matching words, and only 10 of 212 evaluated books had any matches at all, Microsoft claims.
The New York Times rejected Microsoft’s framing. “The documents and testimony uncovered during discovery lead to only one conclusion: Microsoft and OpenAI stole from The New York Times to make commercial products that substitute for its journalism, threaten its business, and undermine its industry,” said the Times’ lead counsel Ian Crosby. “We look forward to Microsoft and OpenAI being held accountable for their theft.”
Microsoft is using the data to argue that training AI systems on copyrighted material constitutes fair use, contending that Copilot serves a “transformative purpose” distinct from the original works. The company submitted its filing in support of a summary judgement motion, which would end the case before trial. The Trump administration separately filed a statement of interest in the New York Times case, supporting OpenAI.
The publishers’ and authors’ cases have been consolidated before a single judge over the plaintiffs’ objections. If the summary judgement motion fails, the litigation will proceed to court.
Source: The Verge