A group of newspapers, including the New York Daily News and Chicago Tribune, filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI in New York federal court, alleging the misuse of reporters’ work to train their generative artificial-intelligence systems.

The eight newspapers, owned by investment firm Alden Global Capital’s MediaNews Group, claimed in the lawsuit that the companies unlawfully copied millions of their articles to train AI products, including Microsoft’s Copilot and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

This lawsuit adds to similar ongoing legal actions against Microsoft and OpenAI, initiated by news outlets such as The New York Times, The Intercept, Raw Story, and AlterNet.

Responding to the allegations, an OpenAI spokesperson stated that the company takes great care in its products and design process to support news organizations, while a Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the complaint.

These cases represent significant legal challenges brought by copyright owners against tech companies concerning the data used to train their generative AI systems.

Steven Lieberman, a lawyer representing the MediaNews publications, emphasized that OpenAI’s success relies on the works of others, criticizing the defendants for allegedly taking content without permission or payment.

The lawsuit highlighted that Microsoft and OpenAI’s systems reproduce the newspapers’ copyrighted content verbatim when prompted. Additionally, it claimed that ChatGPT generated false articles attributed to the newspapers, including a fake Denver Post article advocating smoking as an asthma cure and a bogus Chicago Tribune recommendation for a recalled infant lounger linked to child deaths.

The plaintiffs, which also include the Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Orange County Register, and Twin Cities Pioneer Press, seek unspecified monetary damages and an order to halt further infringement.