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Financial agreements between OpenAI and Axel Springer

Last year, when news broke that AI giant OpenAI and Axel Springer had reached a financial agreement and partnership, it seemed to presage harmony between the people who write words and the technology companies that use them to help create and train artificial intelligence models. At the time, OpenAI had also struck a deal with the AP, for reference.

The New York Times trial

Then, at the end of the year, the New York Times sued OpenAI and its financial backer Microsoft, alleging that the company's generative AI models were "built by copying and using millions of copyrighted Times news articles, in-depth investigations, opinion pieces, reviews, how-to guides and more." As a result of what the Times considers "illegal use of [its] work to create artificial intelligence products", OpenAI is able to "generate output that recites Times content verbatim, summarizes it closely and mimics its expressive style, as evidenced by numerous examples."

Balancing respect for copyright and the development of AI

The question of the balance between respect for copyright and the development of AI will not be resolved quickly. However, the more confrontational agreements and disputes between creators and AI companies wishing to integrate and use their work to build artificial intelligence models create an unfortunate moment for both conflicting parties. Tech companies are busy integrating new generative AI models trained on data comprising copyrighted material into their software products; Microsoft is a leader in this field, it's worth noting. And media companies that have spent enormous time and effort building up a body of informational and creative material are outraged that their efforts are being absorbed by machines that give them nothing in return.