Microsoft and OpenAI face yet another lawsuit

The American non-profit organization Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), which owns the publications Mother Jones and Reveal, announced that it will follow the example of other media, led by the New York Times magazine, and initiate legal proceedings against the companies Microsoft and OpenAI for alleged copyright infringements.

"OpenAI and Microsoft began dissecting our stories to increase the power of their product, but unlike other organizations that license our material, they never asked for permission or offered compensation," Monika Bauerlein, executive director of the Center, said in a statement. for investigative reporting. "Such conduct is not only unfair, but also a violation of copyright. The work of journalists at CIR and everywhere else is valuable, and OpenAI and Microsoft know it.”

CIR's lawyers allege in the lawsuit that OpenAI and Microsoft have copied their content, undermined relationships with readers and partners, and deprived it of revenue.

CIR joins a number of others who have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft. The New York Times has already spent $1 million on a lawsuit against the two companies. They are also being sued by a group of eight publications owned by Alden Global Capital, including the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune, as well as The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet and The Denver Post.

Some authors also banded together and filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI, which was recently partially dismissed.

Some media organizations have signed license agreements with OpenAI, including The Associated Press, Axel Springer, Financial Times, Dotdash Meredith, News Corp, The Atlantic and Time.

"We work with the journalism industry and connect with global news publishers to display their content, including summaries, quotes and annotations, in our products like ChatGPT, driving traffic back to the original articles," he told CNBC about the lawsuit. a spokesperson for OpenAI.