Observed Signal · Sep 2, 2026 · Policy Update · Source: techcrunch · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
AI Copyright / Fair Use Market: US Government Sides With OpenAI in Copyright Training Lawsuit
The Trump administration has filed a 20-page legal brief in the copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times against OpenAI, arguing that AI companies should be allowed to train large language models on copyrighted material without explicit permission. The brief asserts that the United States has a strong interest in maintaining global leadership in artificial intelligence and warns against constraining LLM development under what it calls a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine. It is not a ruling; the case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The intervention could influence the ongoing fair-use debate, which centers on whether training AI on copyrighted works is transformative. The article also notes a related case in which Anthropic was ordered to pay a $1.5 billion settlement to writers, but the penalty was tied to its use of illegal shadow libraries, not to the act of training models on copyrighted texts.
US government intervention in a landmark AI copyright case could shape fair-use precedent for training large language models, influencing AI development across the technology and advertising industries.
Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- The Trump administration filed a 20-page brief in The New York Times v. OpenAI lawsuit supporting OpenAI's unlicensed use of copyrighted works for AI training.
- The brief argues the United States has a strong interest in retaining global leadership in artificial intelligence.
- The case is being tried in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; the brief is not a ruling.
- A prior ruling ordered Anthropic to pay a $1.5 billion copyright settlement to writers, but the penalty was for using illegal shadow libraries, not for AI training itself.
Connected Companies & Entities
3 Entities mappedAnthropic
Foundation model company selling AI assistants and model APIs.
“Anthropic was ordered to pay a $1.5 billion copyright settlement to a group of writers whose works were used to train its AI models....”
The New York Times
Subscription-led news publisher with digital media and lifestyle products.
“The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI over the use of its copyrighted material to train AI models....”
OpenAI
Foundation model company selling AI software, APIs and subscriptions.
“OpenAI is the defendant in a copyright lawsuit filed by The New York Times over unlicensed use of copyrighted material to train its LLMs....”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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