Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft as Microsoft presses to end NYT copyright case

Seattle Times and Newsday filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft seeking destruction of datasets and models trained on their journalism, days after Microsoft filed summary judgment briefs in the NYT case arguing only 59,545 of 8.2 million…

The Seattle Times and Newsday filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging their journalism was used as AI training data without permission and that chatbots such as ChatGPT and Copilot reproduce passages of their reporting, calling generative AI products 'rapacious consumers' of human-authored journalism. The outlets seek destruction of copies of their works, training datasets, and AI models that incorporate them; Microsoft is named as co-defendant because Copilot is built on OpenAI technology. The suit joins actions by The New York Times (2023), Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica, and nearly 400 local newspapers; publishers argue chatbot answers reduce site visits and cost subscription revenue. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company was surprised but always happy to explore solutions; per TechCrunch, the outlets have received Microsoft funding for journalism projects and fellowships. Separately, in the consolidated NYT-led case, Microsoft filed summary judgment briefs arguing that analysis of 8.2 million Copilot chat logs found only 59,545 containing at least 16 words in common with news content, and just 24 responses with at least 30 matching words in the authors' case — figures it says show Copilot rarely reproduces substantive chunks and support fair use. A Center for Investigative Reporting expert found 51 instances of substantial overlap, per The Verge (a different measurement from Microsoft's counts). The Times says discovery shows Microsoft and OpenAI stole from it, and the Trump administration filed a statement of interest supporting OpenAI this week.

• Seattle Times and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement over alleged unlicensed use of their journalism as AI training data (reported 2026-09-05 and 2026-09-06).
• The suit seeks destruction of copies of the outlets' works, training datasets, and AI models that incorporate their journalism.
• Microsoft is named as co-defendant because Copilot is built on OpenAI technology.
• The suit follows actions by The New York Times (2023), Ziff Davis, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica, and nearly 400 local newspapers.
• The suit calls AI products like ChatGPT and Copilot 'rapacious consumers' of journalism that could break it 'beyond repair'; publishers argue chatbot answers reduce site visits and cost subscription revenue.
• Microsoft said it was surprised by the suit but open to exploring solutions; the outlets have received Microsoft funding for journalism projects and fellowships (per TechCrunch).
• Microsoft filed summary judgment briefs in the NYT-led case: analysis of 8.2 million Copilot chat logs found only 59,545 contained at least 16 words in common with news content.
• In the authors' case, just 24 Copilot responses showed at least 30 matching words; a Center for Investigative Reporting expert found 51 instances of substantial overlap (per The Verge).