Trump admin backs OpenAI ‘fair use’ argument in suit from New York Times

President Trump’s administration is signaling support of OpenAI as it defends itself from a lawsuit brought by The New York Times over fair use of the outlet’s content.

The Times sued OpenAI in 2023 over the use of its journalism to train its systems and popular chatbots, which are used by millions of people across the country for work, business and entertainment.

In a new filing this week, the Trump administration signaled support for OpenAI.

Having a “robust” AI ecosystem in the U.S., lawyers for the federal government said in the filing, is essential for national security and other government priorities, and OpenAI should be able to use even copyrighted content to advance its technology.

“It would be problematic—and legally incorrect—to impose broad copyright liability that would generally render training of AI models impermissible without licensing,” the government said.

The Times has argued in court filings and public statements that OpenAI should not be able to publish its journalism, which is based on original reporting, without its consent.

The case is being widely watched as news publishers grapple with the emergence of AI platforms that are feeding a growing number of search engines and social media platforms where consumers look for news and information.

Times leadership has signaled it is open to working with AI platforms but that its copyrighted journalism should be off limits from feeding OpenAI’s chatbots and other systems.

“Tech giants strip-mine news websites without permission or compensation. They repackage these stolen goods as their own, siphoning off the audiences and revenue that otherwise would go to the news organizations that created this work. And this happens not just once during the training process, but countless times every single day,” Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said during a speech this summer at the World News Media Congress.

“News organizations should want the good A.I. can bring. But tech companies should also want to support the healthy, sustainable flow of the information and ideas and creativity that powers A.I. — to ensure their actions don’t lead us to a tragedy of the civic commons.”

OpenAI has so far unsuccessfully attempted to convince a judge to toss the Times’s case, while the newspaper has struck partnerships with other AI providers like Amazon.

“I remain convinced of the value created by quality news organizations dedicated to the hard, expensive work of original reporting — to readers, to communities, to society as a whole. And, yes, even to A.I. models,” Sulzberger said. “The question is whether that value will be leached up by tech giants, or whether that value will return to news organizations to allow them to continue this essential work.”