New Delhi

A consortium of US newspapers, led by the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune, has filed a lawsuit against tech giants Microsoft and OpenAI.

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According to Reuters, the lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, alleges that the companies have unlawfully utilised the journalistic work of reporters to train their generative artificial intelligence systems.

The eight newspapers involved, all under the ownership of investment firm Alden Global Capital's MediaNews Group, claim that Microsoft and OpenAI have copied millions of their articles without consent.

These articles were allegedly used to train AI products, including Microsoft's Copilot and OpenAI's ChatGPT.

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This legal action comes amidst similar ongoing lawsuits against both Microsoft and OpenAI, initiated by notable news outlets such as The New York Times, The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet.

Notably, OpenAI, which has received heavy financial backing from Microsoft, is facing mounting pressure over its AI training practices.

According to Steven Lieberman, a lawyer representing the MediaNews publications, OpenAI owes much of its success to the intellectual property of others.

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Lieberman criticised the defendants for using copyrighted content without proper authorisation or compensation.

He highlighted that while these companies readily invest in hardware and human resources, they seem to overlook the importance of respecting intellectual property rights.

The lawsuit outlines that Microsoft and OpenAI's AI systems replicate the newspapers' copyrighted content verbatim when prompted.

Additionally, it alleges that ChatGPT fabricates articles falsely attributed to the newspapers, potentially damaging their reputations.

For instance, fabricated articles include a misleading Denver Post piece endorsing smoking as an asthma remedy and a fictitious Chicago Tribune recommendation for an infant lounger that had been linked to child fatalities.

Beyond the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune, the plaintiffs include prominent newspapers like the Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Orange County Register, and Twin Cities Pioneer Press.

Seeking both monetary compensation and an injunction against further infringement, the newspapers aim to address what they perceive as a fundamental violation of their intellectual property rights.

(With inputs from Reuters)