Unsealed docs: OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a web 'doom loop'

The Verge AI · rss · 2026-09-19

Recently unsealed court documents in the New York Times' copyright case against OpenAI and Microsoft are damaging:

• The companies' own documentation warned they were starting a "doom loop" that would damage the web.
• The documents characterized their scraping for training data as the "largest theft of labor in human history" and a "complete mockery of the idea of fair use."
• The most striking quotes come from Microsoft's Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht, though a Microsoft spokesperson attempted to distance the company from his assertions.

The disclosures could materially shape the ongoing copyright litigation.

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