Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit
The Trump administration filed a letter backing OpenAI in its legal fight against the New York Times, arguing that using copyrighted material to train AI models qualifies as fair use under existing law. The government's position aligns federal authority with the AI industry's central defense in a closely watched copyright case.
Why this matters: The federal government just put its weight behind the idea that AI companies can train on your work without asking or paying. That matters to anyone who writes, photographs, codes, or creates anything that ends up online. Fair use has always been a balance, but applying it this broadly would tip it heavily toward whoever has the compute budget. If the government's view holds, the incentive for AI companies to negotiate licenses or build opt-out systems largely disappears. Publishers, journalists, and individual creators are left fighting a lawsuit they did not choose.
Who should care: Lawyers · Privacy officers · Compliance · General readers · AI governance · Policy
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