Conservative organizations have urged a Manhattan federal court to prevent artificial intelligence companies from freely accessing and utilizing internet content, arguing that such unfettered access jeopardizes news organizations and national security. The Center for American Rights, a conservative nonprofit law firm, detailed these concerns in an amicus brief filed in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by news outlets against OpenAI.
The brief contends that allowing AI systems to "recklessly crawl the internet, even past paywalls" would eliminate the competitive advantage of smaller content creators and establish AI companies as the primary distributors of information. This, according to the filing, "completely expurgates the incentive for any creator to want to provide free, open content and solidifies SI companies as our sole provider of news and entertainment."
The organizations also warned that an expansive interpretation of copyright law by AI companies could enable foreign entities, particularly Chinese firms, to engage in intellectual property theft through "distillation attacks." This process involves using advanced AI models to train less capable ones without permission, at a significantly lower cost and time investment.
"If the Court here agrees with OpenAI’s expansive view of fair use, it would not only encourage foreign adversaries to continue this obvious form of IP theft but also give them legal immunity to do so," the brief states. This aligns with concerns previously voiced by Trump administration officials regarding the threat of technology theft by foreign adversaries.
The lawsuit, initially filed by The New York Times in December 2023 and later consolidated with similar actions, accuses OpenAI of using copyrighted material to train its AI models without proper credit or compensation. OpenAI's defense rests on the doctrine of "fair use." Judge Sidney H. Stein has rejected OpenAI's bid to dismiss the lawsuit but has not yet ruled on the "fair use" argument.
The brief's signatories include the Article III Project, the Internet Accountability Project, the Bull Moose Project, Consumers For A Strong Economy, and conservative lawyer Joel Thayer. The Center for American Rights President Daniel Suhr stated that their goal is to demonstrate how an "America First" approach values both AI advancement and intellectual property protection, particularly in the context of alleged AI tech theft by China.
This legal action comes amid broader debates about AI's impact on journalism and intellectual property. The filing highlights internal concerns from Microsoft and OpenAI executives who reportedly acknowledged the significance of copyright infringement in training AI models, with one Microsoft director describing it as potentially the "largest theft of labor in human history."