Microsoft and OpenAI internal documents, unsealed in a motion for summary judgment led by The New York Times, expose fears that AI scraping threatens the news industry. Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht warned that scraping news for AI training was "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions," calling it perhaps the "largest theft of labor in human history." Hecht also contradicted the firms' fair use arguments, suggesting widespread scraping made "a complete mockery of the idea of 'fair use.'" OpenAI ChatGPT head Nick Turley warned publishers faced an "existential threat" from commercial products trained on news content. One Microsoft document described a "doom loop" that would hurt model performance and the entire web.

Data shows Microsoft recorded 83-93 percent drops in click-through rates for some news plaintiffs and 51-94 percent drops for others. OpenAI software engineers noted users "won't click" links even when prominently displayed. During testimony, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella acknowledged chatbots substitute for news sites by providing information directly.

When OpenAI staffer Nick Ryder informed President Greg Brockman of a "hack" to bypass The New York Times paywall, Brockman replied, "Ah, nice." News organizations argue chatbots are "largely substitutive" and plan to go to trial, stating the future of journalism and responsible AI depends on preserving incentives for human creators.