Microsoft says virtually nobody was grabbing NYT articles through its chatbot
News Source
β’2026-09-04T12:05:57-04:00
π° What Happened
Microsoft says its Copilot chatbot rarely copies text from news articles. The claim came in new legal filings. Publishers, including The New York Times, say their work was used to train AI without permission.
The company checked more than eight million chat logs. Fewer than 1 percent repeated at least 16 words from an article, it says. Full sentences and long chunks were even rarer.
Microsoft argues Copilot is not a substitute for reading the original story. The publishers say the numbers do not tell the whole story. The courts will decide.
π The Backstory
News companies have spent years fighting AI makers over copyright. They say tech firms trained models on their articles without paying. The New York Times sued over this in 2023.
Similar lawsuits now target OpenAI, Microsoft, and others. Publishers want money and control over how their work is used. AI firms argue training on public writing is fair use.
Copyright law was written long before AI existed. Courts are now deciding how old rules apply to new machines. The answers will affect every newsroom and AI company.
π― Why It Matters
This case decides whether AI companies must pay news outlets for using their work. The outcome affects who pays for journalism and who owns the news you read.
Microsoft says its Copilot chatbot rarely copies text from news articles. The claim came in new legal filings. Publishers, including The New York Times, say their work was used to train AI without permission.
The company checked more than eight million chat logs. Fewer than 1 percent repeated at least 16 words from an article, it says. Full sentences and long chunks were even rarer.
Microsoft argues Copilot is not a substitute for reading the original story. The publishers say the numbers do not tell the whole story. The courts will decide.
News companies have spent years fighting AI makers over copyright. They say tech firms trained models on their articles without paying. The New York Times sued over this in 2023.
Similar lawsuits now target OpenAI, Microsoft, and others. Publishers want money and control over how their work is used. AI firms argue training on public writing is fair use.
Copyright law was written long before AI existed. Courts are now deciding how old rules apply to new machines. The answers will affect every newsroom and AI company.
This case decides whether AI companies must pay news outlets for using their work. The outcome affects who pays for journalism and who owns the news you read.