The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in September 2026, alleging the companies used their journalism as training data for AI models without permission and frequently reproduce passages from their reporting in response to user queries.
Microsoft was named as a co-defendant because its Copilot product is built on OpenAI’s technology. The two publishers join a growing list of nearly 400 local newspapers that have recently sued both companies, arguing that AI chatbots reduce the need for users to visit their sites directly — costing the outlets subscription revenue.
The lawsuit is part of a broader legal wave targeting OpenAI. Similar suits have previously been filed by The New York Times, Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, and Encyclopedia Britannica over comparable copyright infringement claims.
As part of their legal action, The Seattle Times and Newsday are seeking the destruction of any copies of their works held by the companies, along with the training datasets and AI models that incorporate them. OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case may carry significant implications for how AI companies source and use published content, and could contribute to broader legal pressure on the industry to establish licensing agreements or other compensation frameworks with news publishers.
Source: The Verge