US Government Files Brief Supporting OpenAI in NYT Copyright Case
Original: US government sides with OpenAI on issue of training LLMs on copyrighted material
Why This Matters
The US government's position could shape how courts interpret fair use in AI training cases industry-wide.
The Trump administration filed a 20-page brief in support of OpenAI in The New York Times' copyright lawsuit, arguing that restricting LLM training on copyrighted material would undermine US AI leadership and economic competitiveness.
The Trump administration has submitted a 20-page amicus brief to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, siding with OpenAI in the ongoing copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times. The brief argues that the United States has 'a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally,' citing an executive order President Trump signed last year. The central legal question in the case is whether AI companies' use of copyrighted works — including books, articles, and other media — to train LLMs constitutes fair use under copyright law. The brief contends that 'constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility.' While not a binding ruling, the brief could carry influence in the proceedings. Separately, in a related case last year, Judge William Alsup ruled that Anthropic's LLM training itself did not constitute copyright infringement, though the company was ordered to pay a $1.5 billion settlement for using pirated books sourced from illegal shadow libraries.