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OpenAI’s Aggressive Court Tactics Test First Amendment Limits

OpenAI’s effort to force The New York Times to hand over reporting notes behind millions of articles allegedly used to train ChatGPT could be a hardball tactic to run up the newspaper’s legal bills or stall its copyright infringement suit, according to several intellectual property and First Amendment attorneys.

OpenAI’s effort to force The New York Times to hand over reporting notes behind millions of articles allegedly used to train ChatGPT could be a hardball tactic to run up the newspaper’s legal bills or stall its copyright infringement suit, according to several intellectual property and First Amendment attorneys. The unprecedented move levies a hefty ask on the publication and, if successful, would pierce reporters’ protections that typically cloak the newsgathering process and prevent journalists from being forced to reveal sources. “If there’s a compelled disclosure ordered in a copyright case like this, it does send a message to future litigants that this is a vulnerability for news organizations,” said Jane Kirtley, a media ethics and law professor at the University of Minnesota.

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