WorkSeptember 2, 2026via Financial Times Technology
Trump administration backs OpenAI in New York Times copyright battle
Why it matters
A government filing in a major copyright lawsuit signals how policy and regulation around AI training data will develop. For practitioners building with scraped or licensed data, this court fight determines whether training on copyrighted material remains legally viable or faces new restrictions.
Key signals
- Trump administration filed brief urging court to reject NYT's claim that training AI on copyrighted content is illegal
- Case: New York Times v. OpenAI (ongoing)
- Filing challenges the core legal argument that model training on copyrighted material constitutes infringement
- Outcome will affect licensing practices, training data strategies, and compliance posture across AI companies
- Published September 2, 2026
The hook
The Trump administration just sided with OpenAI against the New York Times in a landmark copyright case—reshaping how AI training data legally works.
US urges court to reject newspaper’s claim that it is illegal to train AI models on copyrighted content