DOJ backs OpenAI in Times case

What's happened

The Justice Department has filed a brief supporting OpenAI and Microsoft in The New York Times’ copyright suit, arguing training large language models on published works is transformative and vital for U.S. national security and economic leadership. The Times and other publishers have sued, saying the companies copied millions of articles and produced substitute products; Judge Sidney H. Stein will rule on summary judgment soon.

What's behind the headline?

What the DOJ filing means

• The Justice Department has argued that training large language models on copyrighted texts is "extraordinarily" transformative and that the public benefits outweigh competitive harms. That position will increase legal pressure on courts to treat model training as fair use rather than wholesale copying.

Who is driving the dispute

• Publishers led by The New York Times are defending a business model that depends on exclusive control and monetisation of reporting. Tech companies and the DOJ are defending an AI industry that requires massive, freely available data to compete globally.

Likely legal path and outcomes

• Judge Sidney H. Stein is deciding whether motions for summary judgment will end the case or send it to trial. If the judge accepts the DOJ's framing, courts will be more likely to find training is transformative and avoid broad licensing mandates. If the judge rejects it, publishers will win leverage to demand licences or damages and force operational changes for AI developers.

Consequences for markets and creators

• A ruling for OpenAI and Microsoft will reduce the immediate legal risk for AI firms and preserve models that draw on large web corpora; it will also reduce publishers' bargaining power to extract licensing fees. A ruling for The Times will force AI companies to negotiate licences or build cleaner training pipelines, and it will increase costs and slow product rollouts.

Forecast

• This will push the issue toward the appeals courts and possibly the Second Circuit or Supreme Court if the ruling is dispositive. Congress will remain under pressure to craft a statutory approach, but courts will shape near-term outcomes.

How we got here

The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, joined by other publishers, saying AI companies used millions of articles without permission to train models that now compete with news outlets. Lower courts have issued mixed fair-use rulings; the DOJ is the first administration agency to weigh in to support AI firms.

Our analysis

The New York Times (Mike Isaac and Karen Weise) has argued in court filings that the core questions are whether A.I. training "transforms" publishers' articles and whether model outputs substitute for original journalism. The Times wrote that A.I. products "compete with The Times as a source of information," and urged the court to apply binding Second Circuit and Supreme Court precedents rather than recent lower-court decisions it views as inapplicable. Axios noted in its coverage that The Times wants the case evaluated against higher-court precedents and warned a loss would "wreak havoc" on publishers' business models. The Guardian quoted Justice Department language stressing national-security and economic rationales: the brief states the United States has "a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry" and that constraining LLM development would "thwart such creative and scientific progress." TechCrunch reproduced the DOJ brief and linked it to an executive order on U.S. AI leadership signed by the president, noting the administration framed the filing as preserving global competitiveness. The Independent and AP highlighted the Times' response: the paper said the administration is "siding with a handful of trillion‑dollar AI companies at the expense of the countless American creators whose work they stole," and insisted AI companies should "pay fairly for the content that makes their products possible." Across outlets, coverage shows a stark divide: the DOJ and tech-friendly reporting emphasise transformation, public benefit and national security, while publishers emphasise market substitution, lost revenue and the need for licensing or compensation.

Go deeper

• What legal standard will Judge Sidney H. Stein apply and when will he rule?
• If the court sides with publishers, how will AI firms change their training pipelines or licensing strategies?
• Will Congress propose a statutory solution after the court's decision?

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