Trump administration backs OpenAI in copyright fight with NYT

The Trump administration has backed OpenAI in a copyright dispute with The New York Times, arguing that training large language models (LLMs) is generally fair use. On September 1, the government filed a brief in Manhattan federal court supporting OpenAI’s use of newspaper content to train ChatGPT. The filing is advisory, not legally binding, but could strengthen technology companies’ defenses in lawsuits brought by authors, publishers, music labels, and news outlets. The brief said the U.S. has a “strong interest” in rejecting arguments that training LLMs on copyrighted texts violates copyright law, citing scientific progress and national security. Associated officials said AI dominance matters to national security and prosperity. NYT sued in 2023, alleging use of millions of articles without permission, alongside Microsoft backing.