OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web
Unsealed court docs: OpenAI and Microsoft's own teams warned of a 'doom loop' destroying the web through training-data scraping.
Why it matters
This is a major regulatory and reputational development in the foundational IP/labor dispute that will shape AI policy and practitioner liability for years. Practitioners need to understand the legal and ethical framework they're operating in; enthusiasts are watching a defining test case unfold.
The key facts
6 to knowNew York Times v. OpenAI/Microsoft court documents unsealed
Internal Microsoft documentation warned of 'doom loop' damaging the web
Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht characterized data scraping as 'largest theft of labor in human history'
Internal docs said scraping made 'complete mockery of fair use'
Microsoft attempting to distance itself from Hecht's statements
Published September 18, 2026 — ongoing litigation with major implications for training data sourcing
Go to the source
The Verge AItheverge.com
Publisher excerpt: Recently unsealed court documents in the New York Times' case against OpenAI and Microsoft are pretty damning. The companies' own documentation warned that it was starting a "doom loop" that would damage the web, characterized its scraping of data to train its models as the "largest theft of labor…