OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web
Unsealed filings in the New York Times' copyright lawsuit show OpenAI and Microsoft internally acknowledged AI scraping harms publishers and the web.
Newly unsealed court documents from the New York Times' case against OpenAI and Microsoft include internal admissions that generative AI threatens publishers and the wider web. An internal Microsoft document warned that its AI content strategy started a 'doom loop' hurting both its models and the web, while Microsoft's Brent Hecht called ChatGPT and Copilot's data harvesting the 'largest theft of labor in human history.' The 92-page filing also quotes OpenAI employees admitting GPT-4 memorized training data and regurgitates copyrighted articles verbatim, and OpenAI experts attributing referral-traffic drops of up to 60 percent to AI summaries. Microsoft has distanced itself from Hecht's remarks, calling them one employee's personal views.
- Internal Microsoft document warned its AI strategy started a 'doom loop' harming models and the web.
- Brent Hecht called ChatGPT and Copilot data harvesting the 'largest theft of labor in human history.'
- OpenAI staff admitted GPT-4 memorized data and regurgitates copyrighted articles verbatim.
- Experts cited search referral declines of up to 60 percent linked to AI summaries.
- Microsoft distanced itself from Hecht's comments as one employee's perspective.
- Victims
- The New York Times
- Organizations
- OpenAIMicrosoftThe New York Times
- AI models
- GPT-4
From the original article
4 min read at theverge.com
Recently unsealed court documents in the New York Times' case against OpenAI and Microsoft are pretty damning. The companies' own documentation warned that it was starting a "doom loop" that would damage the web, characterized its scraping of data to train its models as the "largest theft of labor in human history," and that it made a "complete mockery of the idea of fair use."
By Terrence O’Brien · theverge.com
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