WorkSeptember 5, 2026via TechCrunch AICONFIRMED · 2 SOURCES · CROSS-PILLAR: MONEY+WORK
Seattle Times and Newsday are the latest publications to sue OpenAI and Microsoft
Why it matters
News organizations are using litigation to contest how AI models are trained on their work. This shapes what content publishers will license, restrict, or demand compensation for — affecting how AI labs acquire training data and how media companies budget for the AI era.
Key signals
- Seattle Times and Newsday filing lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft
- Claims center on unauthorized use of journalism for model training
- Part of an escalating pattern of media-organization litigation against frontier labs
- Published September 5, 2026
- Seattle Times and Newsday filed lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft
- Suits allege unauthorized use of journalism for AI training
- Multiple news organizations now pursuing litigation (trend indicator)
- Date: September 5, 2026 (ongoing legal action)
The hook
Seattle Times and Newsday join a growing litigation wave against OpenAI and Microsoft over training-data use — the latest battleground in AI's collision with intellectual property.
Two more news organizations are suing OpenAI and Microsoft over the supposed use of their journalism to train AI.