PlainAI AI explained plainly

United States courts · 2025 · 03 · 26 · Incident · ~2 min read

Court let The New York Times' AI copyright lawsuit proceed

Judge Sidney Stein let the heart of The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft proceed. The Times claims OpenAI illegally trained on its articles. OpenAI claims fair use. The case set the legal frame for every AI copyright fight in 2025-2026.

What's actually new

  • Core copyright claims survived — meaning a US court is now deciding whether AI training on news articles without a licence is infringement.
  • Fair-use defence is being tested for the first time at this scale. Whatever the verdict, the legal frame for AI training shifts.
  • Chat-log preservation order followed in May 2025 — OpenAI was ordered to preserve every ChatGPT conversation, even ones users had tried to delete, so the Times could find evidence. Lifted in October 2025.

If you want more

Worth knowing~30s
  • The case isn't decided. Heading toward trial or settlement. Final verdict could be years away, and could be appealed.
  • Some collateral claims got dismissed (unfair competition, most DMCA claims). The Times got the main copyright fight; not everything else.
  • Other AI lawsuits filed alongside — author groups, image creators, music labels. NYT v OpenAI is one of many; the verdict here will shape, not finish, the legal landscape.
Who should care~20s

Anyone whose work is on the open web and might be in AI training data — journalists, photographers, musicians, illustrators, novelists. AI vendors themselves. Lawyers practising copyright. Educators teaching AI ethics or media studies.

What to do about it~20s

If you produce content for the open web, watch the verdict — it'll shape your bargaining position with AI vendors. If you're an AI builder, treat your training-data sourcing as legally exposed until the dust settles. If you're a user, the chat-log preservation order from May 2025 is the news that should change your trust posture: assume any chat could be subpoenaed.

Honest take~45s

NYT v OpenAI was the legal moment when 'AI training on the open web' stopped being a tech-industry assumption and became a contested legal question. The chat-log preservation order in May 2025 was the under-noticed plot twist: it forced the AI industry to take privacy and discoverability seriously in a way no policy debate had. Whichever way the case ends, the genie's out — every major AI vendor is now negotiating licensing deals with publishers, and the era of 'we can train on anything publicly available' is ending in slow motion.

Other recent incident updates

Sources

Last verified · 2026 · 05 · 05 · Found a fact wrong? corrections@aguidetocloud.com