The Trump administration has officially stepped into a massive legal battle over digital copyrights, throwing its full weight behind the tech industry. The Department of Justice filed a brief in federal court this week to support OpenAI in its ongoing fight against The New York Times. Government lawyers argue that training these massive computer models on copyrighted news articles generally falls under normal fair use laws.
The Justice Department says restricting computer training hurts national security
The New York Times originally sued the tech giant back in late 2023. The newspaper claims the software maker used millions of its published articles without permission to train ChatGPT. The media outlet wants compensation for the written work that currently powers the popular chatbot.
In response, the federal government filed a legal document stating that using written text to train artificial intelligence is a highly transformative process. The brief warns that forcing companies to face strict copyright limits could slow down scientific progress. It also notes that holding back American software developers could give foreign countries a serious high-tier advantage over the United States.
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U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward supported the court filing on social media. He posted that leading the world in AI development is critical for the long-term prosperity and safety of all Americans.
A spokesperson for the newspaper quickly pushed back against the court filing. The representative argued that the current administration is simply siding with rich tech companies instead of protecting the human creators who write the actual content. While the government statement is not legally binding, it gives federal judges a clear look at how the Justice Department interprets modern copyright rules.
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