USA Today Co. and several local newspapers it owns filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Thursday. The publisher claims OpenAI copied hundreds of thousands of articles to train its artificial intelligence models.
The legal filing asks for damages of more than $250 million. The publisher alleges that this unauthorized use of its content has caused real and continuing harm to its outlets.
The publisher joins other media outlets
This lawsuit adds to a growing string of copyright legal actions against OpenAI. Other plaintiffs include The New York Times, The Intercept, and CNET owner Ziff Davis.
CBC/Radio Canada, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster, and The Seattle Times are also suing the company. A coalition of nearly 400 local newspapers has taken similar legal action.
OpenAI faces mounting legal pressure
The new lawsuit claims that OpenAI achieved commercial success through large-scale copyright infringement. The complaint states that OpenAI never asked for permission to use the content.
Instead, the publisher alleges that OpenAI took its material to build products worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Local outlets like The Tennessean, Indy Star, The Columbus Dispatch, and The Oklahoman are part of the case.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Verge.
