OpenAI execs knew mass book piracy was illegal but worried about the "optics" on Hacker News

papergirl · hn · 2026-09-27

New filings in the Authors Guild v. OpenAI case reveal that top OpenAI executives knew that mass-pirating books for training was legally problematic — yet internally fretted over the "optics" of the material appearing on Hacker News rather than the legality of the practice itself. The documents show leadership awareness of copyright risk well before lawsuits were filed, making the case a centerpiece of the ongoing training-data copyright battle.

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