USA Today's parent company sued OpenAI alleging it copied hundreds of thousands of articles to train its models and repackaged them for ChatGPT users
USA Today's parent company and 13 of its entities sued OpenAI in New York. The suit accuses OpenAI of illegally copying hundreds of thousands of articles from 19 publications to train and operate its models. It also alleges ChatGPT reproduces or repackages that reporting for users. The claims are allegations and have not been decided by a court.
What the AI did
OpenAI is alleged to have copied hundreds of thousands of articles from 19 publications to train and operate its AI models. The suit also alleges that ChatGPT reproduces or repackages that reporting for its users; a court has not decided these claims.
First reported October 8, 2026 · Added to the register October 17, 2026 · 2 sources
- Developer
- OpenAI
- Model
- ChatGPT
- Affected
- USA Today's parent company and 13 of its entities, USA Today Co
- Country
- United States (New York), United States
- When it happened
- Not stated in the sources
- First reported
- October 8, 2026
What this means for you
Could this affect you?
If you publish news or build or use AI tools that rely on news content. News publishers whose articles may be used to train AI models could have similar claims. Companies that build or use AI fed with news content could face the same kind of copyright dispute alleged here.
What to check
- Review where the content used to train or feed your AI systems comes from.
- Confirm you hold licences for that content.
- Check whether your AI outputs reproduce or closely repackage copyrighted reporting.
Areas of your AI programme this touches
Timeline
- October 8, 2026First reported
- October 9, 2026The suit, filed in US federal court in Manhattan, seeks more than $250 million in damages and an end to the alleged infringement; OpenAI did not immediately reply to the complaint.[2]
Every fact and its source (4)
- Alleged copied contentHundreds of thousands of articles from 19 publications“hundreds of thousands of articles from 19 publications”[1]
- Damages soughtMore than $250 million“demands more than $250 million in damages and cessation of the copyright infringement”[2]
- OpenAI responseNo immediate reply to the complaint“OpenAI, in turn, did not give a reply to the complaint immediately after the lawsuit”[2]
- Status of claimsAllegations not yet proven“The allegations have not yet been proven in court”[2]
Sources
- USA Today Sues OpenAI For Over $250M, Alleging Willful Copyright Infringementtvnewscheck.com · October 8, 2026
- USA Today sues OpenAI: USA Today vs OpenAI: Key questions over ChatGPT training data, news copyright and whether publishers should be paid for their workeconomictimes.indiatimes.com · October 9, 2026
How this record is classified. Severity N: a legal action or test finding, not a harm. Evidence: Alleged, meaning one party's claim.
The facts in At a glance and in Every fact and its source are quoted from the sources listed. The summary, What the AI did and What this means for you are written from those sources and checked against them automatically before publication. Records reflect what has been disclosed, not everything that has happened. Incidents are found through news feeds and the GDELT Project.
