Story perspectives

Justice Department Backs OpenAI in NYT Copyright Case

9/3/2026

Summary

Story summary

The U.S. Justice Department filed a brief in September 2026 supporting OpenAI in the New York Times copyright case.
The brief argued that training language models on copyrighted articles is fair use because it is transformative.
The department warned that a ruling against OpenAI could damage scientific progress, national security, and U.S. economic mobility.
The filing cited President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order to sustain U.S. AI dominance.
It was the first formal U.S. government intervention in AI copyright litigation.

History

Historical Context

Authors Guild v. Google Books (2015) established that scanning millions of titles for searchable use qualifies as fair use, a principle Judge Denny Chin highlighted when Google digitized over 30 million works. The Justice Department’s September 2026 brief for OpenAI invokes that precedent to argue AI training on New York Times articles is similarly transformative, echoing a century-long shift that now touches more than 100 million printed books worldwide.

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Story summary

The U.S. Justice Department filed a brief in September 2026 supporting OpenAI in the New York Times copyright case.
The brief argued that training language models on copyrighted articles is fair use because it is transformative.
The department warned that a ruling against OpenAI could damage scientific progress, national security, and U.S. economic mobility.
The filing cited President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order to sustain U.S. AI dominance.
It was the first formal U.S. government intervention in AI copyright litigation.

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