USA Today Co. Sues OpenAI for $250 Million Over Hundreds of Thousands of Articles
Updated
Updated · The Verge · Oct 8
USA Today Co. Sues OpenAI for $250 Million Over Hundreds of Thousands of Articles
1 articles · Updated · The Verge · Oct 8
Summary
More than $250 million in damages is at stake after USA Today Co. and several of its local newspapers sued OpenAI on Thursday over alleged unauthorized use of their journalism in AI training.
The complaint says OpenAI copied “hundreds of thousands” of articles without permission, causing “real and continuing” harm while using that material to build products worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Tennessean, Indy Star, The Columbus Dispatch and The Oklahoman are among the outlets included in the case; OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suit adds to a widening wave of copyright cases against OpenAI, including actions by The New York Times, Ziff Davis, CBC/Radio-Canada, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, The Seattle Times and nearly 400 local newspapers.
With AI companies securing lucrative licensing deals, will USA Today's $250 million lawsuit crush unauthorized scraping or force a massive industry settlement?
After a recent 2026 court ruling complicated AI copyright claims, can publishers prove chatbots are illegally stealing their revenue-generating readers?
If AI models merely learn statistical patterns, could this massive copyright lawsuit inadvertently redefine the legal boundaries of how machines consume human knowledge?