The Seattle Times and Newsday have jointly filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the tech giants of training AI models using copyrighted works without permission. Filed on Friday, the complaint alleges that OpenAI and Microsoft were "methodically scraping" news articles in a way that bypasses paywalls. The news organizations claim this practice has harmed their business models by providing AI-generated alternatives that reduce traffic and digital advertising revenue.

The lawsuit further alleges that the AI models create hallucinations attributing false information to the outlets and remove copyright management information from articles. This legal action joins a growing list of copyright infringement suits against AI companies. In 2023, the New York Times set a precedent by filing a similar lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft.

The trend continued earlier this year when CNN sued Perplexity for copyright infringement. However, some news organizations like AP and Vox Media have chosen different paths, partnering with OpenAI to allow the company to train models on their material.