USA Today Sues OpenAI for $250 Million Over Use of Articles in AI Training

USA Today joins the wave of lawsuits against OpenAI

USA Today Co. and its local newspapers have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of large-scale copying of content. According to the complaint, OpenAI copied hundreds of thousands of articles to train its AI models without securing permission from rights holders. The publisher is seeking compensation exceeding $250 million, citing unauthorized use of its content that caused "real and ongoing harm" to its media outlets.

In the filing, USA Today Co. characterizes the situation as copyright infringement on a massive scale. "OpenAI's commercial success is built on massive copyright infringement," the complaint states. According to the publisher, OpenAI never sought permission to use the material — instead, it "misappropriated" the content to build products now valued at hundreds of billions of dollars.

A long line of lawsuits

USA Today isn't the first publisher to head to court. It's part of a growing wave of lawsuits against OpenAI. Nearly 400 local newspapers previously filed suit together. Notable publishers defending their rights in court include the Seattle Times and Newsday, which also accused OpenAI and Microsoft of copyright infringement. Add to that list the New York Times, whose lawsuit has received backing from the Trump administration — an unusual move that signals growing political attention to copyright issues in the context of AI development.

USA Today Co. is a major publishing house that controls a network of local newspapers across the country. The plaintiffs include several other city and regional publications that also say their content was copied without authorization. OpenAI has not yet commented on the proceedings.