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Will OpenAI Eat The New York Times?

Gaming out the motivations, the countermoves, and the likely endgame of the Times-OpenAI legal fracas.

The New York Times is trying to sell a court on the notion that ChatGPT, the chatbot operated by Sam Altman’s OpenAI, is a plagiarist, mimicking their unique expression of facts.
The New York Times is trying to sell a court on the notion that ChatGPT, the chatbot operated by Sam Altman’s OpenAI, is a plagiarist, mimicking their unique expression of facts. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
January 8, 2024

On December 27, The New York Times dropped a legal bomb on OpenAI, accusing the ChatGPT maker of copyright infringement and seeking unspecified, presumably sizable, damages. Of course, plenty of journalists and lawyers cheered the move, imagining Sam Altman to be quaking in his candy-colored, Dall-E designed shoes. But I’m not vibing with the majority. In fact, I believe that A.G. Sulzberger and the paper’s legal team at Susman Godfrey are facing a rocky road ahead.