US government backs OpenAI in New York Times copyright case

The ​Trump administration has filed a brief supporting OpenAI in ​its dispute with the New York Times and ‌other newspapers ​over the company's use of their work to train the large language models behind ChatGPT, saying AI training generally makes fair use of copyrighted material. The brief, filed in Manhattan federal ‌court on Tuesday, appears to be the first time the U.S. government has weighed in on a wave of cases brought by copyright owners including authors, publishers, music labels and news outlets over AI training. A brief has advisory rather than legal weight but could bolster tech companies ‌as they fight the claims.

"The United States has a strong interest in this court rejecting any argument that training LLMs ‌on copyrighted texts violates copyright law" based on concerns including scientific advancement and national security, the brief said. Spokespeople for the Times and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the filing on Wednesday.

"AI dominance is critical to promote national security, prosperity, and economic mobility for all Americans," U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley ⁠Woodward said ​in a statement posted to X. "This ⁠Administration will never let our Nation be at a disadvantage relative to our foreign adversaries based on a plainly incorrect understanding of copyright law." U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard ⁠Lutnick separately told G20 officials at a meeting in North Carolina on Wednesday that their countries should embrace fair use and allow AI companies to train ​their models on creators' work while finding a way to "protect artists."

The Times' lawsuit, first filed in 2023, accuses ⁠OpenAI and its largest financial backer, Microsoft, of using millions of newspaper articles without permission to train OpenAI's popular chatbot. The case is one of dozens brought by copyright holders ⁠against ​tech companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta Platforms for what they say is misuse of their material to train AI systems. All of the pending cases will likely revolve around whether AI systems make fair use of copyrighted material by using it ⁠to create new, transformative content. The first two judges to consider the issue issued diverging rulings last year.

The government agreed on Tuesday ⁠with tech companies that AI training ⁠is "extraordinarily" transformative. "Beyond the subject matter of this litigation, LLMs are already helping researchers across fields achieve major breakthroughs," the brief said. "Constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and ‌scientific progress while ‌hindering American prosperity and economic mobility."