Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has openly criticized The New York Times‘ lawsuit against his company, intensifying the growing rift between artificial intelligence (AI) firms and traditional media outlets.
According to TechCrunch on Wednesday, Altman addressed the lawsuit during an appearance on the podcast “Hard Fork.”
Altman took issue with The New York Times‘ legal action against OpenAI and its major investor, Microsoft, alleging unauthorized use of the newspaper’s articles to train large language models (LLMs). He particularly objected to The New York Times‘ recent demand that OpenAI preserve ChatGPT and API customer data.
Altman stated that it’s a clear privacy violation for The New York Times to demand that OpenAI keep user data. He took a strong position, saying that while The New York Times is a respected institution, its demand is entirely unacceptable.
The conflict between AI companies and media outlets has escalated into legal battles in recent years, with several publishers suing firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta for alleged copyright infringement. Publishers argue that AI models could devalue their content. However, Anthropic’s recent partial victory in a similar lawsuit suggests AI companies may gain the upper hand legally.
Internally, OpenAI faces its challenges. Reports indicate that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is offering a 100 million USD compensation package to poach OpenAI talent, a move that Altman has publicly acknowledged.
The company’s partnership with Microsoft is also under strain. Altman noted that while deep partnerships always involve tension, their relationship will continue to be mutually beneficial.
Concerns are mounting about the potential societal impact of AI technology. Altman emphasized that OpenAI is strengthening measures to connect users with professional services to prevent ChatGPT from promoting conspiracy theories or engaging in dangerous conversations.