OpenAI Announces TIME Partnership

On June 27, the parent organization of Mother Jones initiated litigation, prompting ChatGPT company OpenAI to announce a partnership with TIME

The AI firm has entered into numerous additional agreements and is currently facing additional litigation.

OpenAI will be granted access to content from TIME’s archives over the past 101 years due to the partnership, enabling it to improve user responses by utilizing the information.

The responses will be referred to and linked to the primary material on Time.com.

TIME will acquire access to OpenAI technology to create new products. Additionally, it will offer feedback and exchange ideas regarding the delivery of journalism in ChatGPT and OpenAI products.

Brad Lightcap, the Chief Operating Officer of OpenAI, stated:

“We’re partnering with TIME to make it easier for people to access news content through our AI tools … “

Mark Howard, CEO of TIME, stated that the partnership will expand “access to trusted information globally,” while Lightcap added that the partnership seeks to “support reputable journalism.”

Mother Jones lawsuit
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), responsible for the publication of Mother Jones and the production of the radio program Reveal, filed separate lawsuits against OpenAI and its shareholder, Microsoft.

OpenAI utilized CIR’s content without obtaining permission or offering compensation. According to CIR CEO Monika Bauerlein, OpenAI and Microsoft have begun “vacuuming up our stories to make their product more powerful,” which is both unfair and a violation of copyright.

The suit specifically alleges violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Act.

CIR recognized that AI products are valuable due to their access to a wide range of information. Nevertheless, Bauerlein confirmed that companies would be “restricted to AI-generated summaries of a disappearing news landscape” if they consider publishers’ content “free raw material.”

The case is currently being prosecuted in the Southern District of New York of the United States District Court.

Additional transactions and litigation
Reddit, the Financial Times, Vox Media, and Axel Springer, a magazine company, are among the entities with which OpenAI has partnered. It also executed an agreement with News Corp, the proprietor of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and the Daily Telegraph.

The Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and the Intercept are among the media companies that have filed ongoing litigation against the company.

In December 2023, the New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. In response to the allegations, OpenAI stated that the two companies had contemplated collaborating before the lawsuit.