The Justice Department backs OpenAI against The New York Times
In a court filing on September 1, 2026, the US Justice Department backed OpenAI's fair use defense in The New York Times' copyright lawsuit, writing that the creative possibilities and public benefits of training large language models far outweigh any competitive harm. It argued that a ruling for the Times would hinder American prosperity and economic mobility and that models trained this way help national security officials analyze real-world facts. The Times, which sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, responded that AI companies simply need to pay fairly for the content that makes their products possible.