The AI Content Parasite: Newsrooms Fight Back Against the 'Rapacious' Machine
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
As The Seattle Times and Newsday join the legal fray against OpenAI and Microsoft, the industry is confronting a grim reality: generative AI may be destroying the very source material it requires to function.
OPINION: Let's stop pretending 'fair use' is a legitimate legal shield in the age of LLMs. For too long, the AI giants have treated the open web as a free buffet, rebranding systemic theft as innovation. These lawsuits are the desperate efforts of a legacy media business model trying to tax the technology replacing them, yet the irony is clear: the machine is starving because it is killing the hosts it feeds on.
As TechCrunch first reported, The Seattle Times and Newsday have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging their journalism was used without permission to train AI models. The lawsuit describes generative AI as "a snake eating its own tail" and "rapacious consumers" that deliver "derivative imitations" of original work to achieve commercial goals, warns that the industry could be left "broken beyond repair."
This litigation follows a 2023 suit by The New York Times over similar copyright claims. The Seattle Times case is particularly notable as Microsoft and OpenAI previously funded some of the organization’s journalism projects and fellowships. In a statement to GeekWire, a Microsoft spokesperson expressed surprise at the lawsuit but said the company remains open to exploring solutions.