Generative AI destroys journalism by using writing and creative artforms to train their AI models – only regulations prevent theft.

“Over the last several years, there have been countless studies, investigations, and litigation by the DOJ and the FTC in the past two administrations that have found anti-competitive conduct by the monopoly distributors of news content,” Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of trade association News Media Alliance, said at the hearing. “This marketplace imbalance will only be increased by [generative AI].”

Generative AI systems—ones that are capable of generating text, images, or other media—must be trained on vast amounts of data. In order to secure access to high-quality text data, prominent AI developer OpenAI has partnered with the Associated Press, a U.S.-based nonprofit news agency, gaining access to part of AP’s archive in exchange for use of OpenAI’s products. OpenAI has a similar partnership with Axel Springer, a German multinational media company, as part of which ChatGPT will summarize articles by Axel Springer-owned news outlets and provide links and attribution.

But not all news outlets have come to similar deals. On Dec. 27 2023, the New York Times sued OpenAI and its major investor and partner, Microsoft. The lawsuit argues that OpenAI’s models were trained on the New York Times’ and offer a competing product, causing “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.” OpenAI responded with a blog post on Jan. 8 2024, in which it contested the Times’ legal claims and noted the various actions it has taken to support a health news ecosystem.

The New York Times lawsuit is the highest-profile copyright case of many launched against AI developers. In July 2023, comedian Sarah Silverman and authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey sued OpenAI and Meta for training their AI models on her writing without their permission. And in January 2023, artists Kelly McKernan, Sarah Andersen, and Karla Orti sued Midjourney, Stability AI, and DeviantArt—companies that develop image generating AI models—again for training their AI models on their work. In October, U.S. District Judge William Orrick dismissed parts of the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs amended and resubmitted the lawsuit in November.

Generative AI tools have been built with “stolen goods,” argued Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, a media company that owns publications including the New Yorker, Wired, and GQ, who called at the hearing for “congressional intervention” to ensure that AI developers pay publishers for their content. “The amount of time it would take to litigate, appeal, go back to the courts appeal, maybe ultimately make it to the Supreme Court to settle between now and then there'll be many, many media companies that would go out of business,” he said.

However, Curtis LeGeyt, president and CEO of trade association National Association of Broadcasters, said talk of legislation was “premature,” contending that current copyright protections should apply. “If we have clarity that current law applies to generative AI, let's let marketplace work,” he said.