Internal Emails Call AI Training 'Largest Theft of Labor in History,' Undercutting OpenAI's Fair Use Defense

The Decoder · rss · 2026-09-18

The Decoder reports that internal emails and sworn testimony are undermining OpenAI and Microsoft's fair use defense in copyright litigation. A Microsoft director described the practice as the "largest theft of labor in human history," while OpenAI's head of ChatGPT wrote internally that the products "are largely substitutive, period" — a statement that cuts against a core requirement of fair use and could become key evidence against the companies.

Original post →

More from Companies & People

Companies & People channel →