New York Times and Publishers Accuse OpenAI of Hiding Evidence in Copyright Lawsuit

The New York Times and sixteen other publishers suing OpenAI for copyright infringement have accused the AI company of withholding critical evidence in the case and requested the court impose sanctions. The Times initially filed its lawsuit in late 2023, alleging OpenAI used copyrighted newspaper content to train its AI models, with ChatGPT generating responses based on protected material. Several other publishers filed similar lawsuits afterward, which were consolidated into a single case by late 2025.

In a motion submitted to the court on Thursday, the publishers claim OpenAI refused to provide information demonstrating how its systems were trained and how ChatGPT uses the data. They argue that the key evidence lies in OpenAI's training data and ChatGPT usage logs, but instead of presenting this evidence and focusing on a fair use defense, OpenAI has chosen to delay and obstruct the process.

OpenAI responded to the New York Times report by stating that as the Times' case weakens and they have withdrawn some claims, they continue efforts to invade the privacy of unrelated individuals and make false allegations against a protester named Elu. OpenAI affirmed its commitment to protecting user privacy and the established principles of fair use.