Trump Administration Backs OpenAI’s Fair-Use Defense in NYT Copyright Case

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023, alleging they used millions of copyrighted articles without permission to train generative AI systems and seeking billions of dollars in damages. The dispute centers on whether large language model training qualifies as fair use under U.S. copyright law, a question with broad implications for publishers’ licensing revenue and the AI industry’s access to training data.

The U.S. government filed a 20-page statement of interest on Sept. 1, 2026, backing OpenAI’s fair-use defense in the case before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It argued that LLM training is highly transformative, does not materially compete with Times articles and supports U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. The filing is advisory, however, and does not bind U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein.