HomeU.S. government backs OpenAI in copyright dispute over LLM training
The Trump administration has submitted a 20-page brief supporting OpenAI in a copyright lawsuit filed by The New York Times, defending the company’s practice of using unlicensed copyrighted material to train its large language models.
“The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive
artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use
globally… As such, it is critical for the United States to ‘retain global leadership in artificial intelligence,’” the brief states, citing an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last year.
Large language models powering chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are trained on vast databases of published works, including copyrighted books, articles, and other media. AI companies have incorporated these materials into their training data without obtaining permission. In this case, The New York Times and other publishers argue that such unauthorized use constitutes copyright infringement.
The question of whether copyrighted material can be used to train AI is complex, sparking extensive legal debate. Discussions frequently focus on fair use, a provision of copyright law that permits certain uses of copyrighted works without permission. The current legal dispute centers on whether AI companies’ use of copyrighted works is sufficiently “transformative” to qualify as fair use.
“Constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility,” the brief argues.
Recent legal cases involving AI training and copyright infringement have generally favored AI companies. Last year, Judge William Alsup ordered Anthropic to pay a $1.5 billion settlement to a group of writers whose works were used to train the company’s AI models; however, Anthropic was not penalized for its AI training practices. Instead, the company was fined for using illegal shadow libraries to access the books used for training.
“Like any reader aspiring to be a writer, Anthropic’s LLMs trained upon works not to race ahead and replicate or supplant them — but to turn a hard corner and create something different,” Judge Alsup wrote, comparing the LLM’s training process to a human reading a book.
This new brief from the Trump administration does not constitute a ruling, as the case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which has jurisdiction over the matter. Nevertheless, the administration’s intervention may still carry significant weight.
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The Trump administration has submitted a 20-page brief supporting OpenAI in a copyright lawsuit filed by The New York Times, defending the company’s practice of using unlicensed copyrighted material to train its large language models.
“The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive
artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use
globally… As such, it is critical for the United States to ‘retain global leadership in artificial intelligence,’” the brief states, citing an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last year.
Large language models powering chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are trained on vast databases of published works, including copyrighted books, articles, and other media. AI companies have incorporated these materials into their training data without obtaining permission. In this case, The New York Times and other publishers argue that such unauthorized use constitutes copyright infringement.
The question of whether copyrighted material can be used to train AI is complex, sparking extensive legal debate. Discussions frequently focus on fair use, a provision of copyright law that permits certain uses of copyrighted works without permission. The current legal dispute centers on whether AI companies’ use of copyrighted works is sufficiently “transformative” to qualify as fair use.
“Constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility,” the brief argues.
Recent legal cases involving AI training and copyright infringement have generally favored AI companies. Last year, Judge William Alsup ordered Anthropic to pay a $1.5 billion settlement to a group of writers whose works were used to train the company’s AI models; however, Anthropic was not penalized for its AI training practices. Instead, the company was fined for using illegal shadow libraries to access the books used for training.
“Like any reader aspiring to be a writer, Anthropic’s LLMs trained upon works not to race ahead and replicate or supplant them — but to turn a hard corner and create something different,” Judge Alsup wrote, comparing the LLM’s training process to a human reading a book.
This new brief from the Trump administration does not constitute a ruling, as the case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which has jurisdiction over the matter. Nevertheless, the administration’s intervention may still carry significant weight.
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