Judge urged to dismiss OpenAI’s attempt to continue deleting data, according to a coalition of news organizations.

Lawyers representing several major news organizations, including the Daily News and The New York Times, have urged a Manhattan court to reject a request from OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, to continue deleting data that may substantiate their allegations of copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in December 2023, claims that OpenAI has unlawfully harvested vast amounts of journalistic content to train its artificial intelligence models.

Last month, Manhattan Federal Magistrate Judge Ona Wang instructed OpenAI to preserve its output logs and associated data that is at risk of deletion. This ruling follows claims made by the news outlets that OpenAI’s actions hinder their ability to demonstrate how artificial intelligence products could potentially bypass paywalls and reproduce copyrighted material. The plaintiffs contend that the deletion of pertinent data compromises their case and undermines the rigor necessary for a fair resolution.

In its defense, OpenAI has requested Judge Wang to vacate her order, asserting that maintaining the data would impose an excessive burden and intrude on user privacy. The tech giant argues that the preservation of this data counters its stated policy, which maintains that user data retention is only applicable under legal demands. However, the news organizations have pointed out that OpenAI has not disputed the relevance of the deleted output logs to their copyright infringement claims.

Legal representatives for the news outlets have emphasized the sophistication of OpenAI, highlighting that as a company valued at over 0 billion, it possesses both the resources and capability to retain the data in question. They argue that OpenAI’s strategy appears designed to evade accountability for alleged copyright violations, including the implementation of filters that complicate the retrieval of outputs related to journalists’ copyrighted materials.

The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI’s generative AI products have generated outputs that echo or distort original reporting, at times misinforming users. The newspapers assert that while they have invested heavily in original journalism, OpenAI is appropriating their work to create AI products without providing appropriate compensation.

OpenAI maintains that its use of data is protected by fair use provisions, which allow for certain exceptions in the use of copyrighted material for purposes such as criticism, commentary, and research. Nevertheless, the plaintiffs contend that fair use requires transformative efforts that do not detract from the market for the original work, a condition they argue OpenAI fails to meet.

The ongoing litigation highlights fundamental tensions between the evolution of artificial intelligence and the rights of content creators. As the case unfolds, the implications for copyright law and the responsibilities of technology companies in the digital age remain a focal point of discussion. The newspapers’ initial lawsuit was complemented by additional claims from other media outlets in the following months, as they seek to hold OpenAI accountable for its alleged practices.

As this situation develops, the outcome of the case could have significant ramifications for the relationship between journalism and artificial intelligence, influencing future legal precedents in the rapidly changing landscape of digital media.