New York Times and Publishers Seek Court Sanctions Against OpenAI for Withholding Evidence

The New York Times and 16 other media organizations are seeking legal sanctions against OpenAI, accusing the company of withholding key evidence in their consolidated copyright infringement lawsuits. In a federal court filing, the publishers claim OpenAI has refused to share its AI training data and output logs, alleging obstruction. The underlying lawsuits, initiated in late 2023, accuse OpenAI of misusing their content to train ChatGPT.

Publishers' sanctions motion

• ▪On July 9, 2026, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and 15 other media organizations filed a motion for legal sanctions against OpenAI in federal court
• ▪The publishers' motion accuses OpenAI of violating court rules and acting in bad faith during the litigation's fact discovery phase

Evidence withholding allegations

• ▪The media organizations allege that OpenAI is withholding evidence that could be a key factor in their lawsuits against the company
• ▪According to the publishers' motion, the withheld evidence is located in OpenAI's training data sets and ChatGPT output logs
• ▪The publishers claim OpenAI has refused to provide information about how its AI systems are trained and used

Copyright infringement lawsuits

• ▪Following the initial lawsuit by The New York Times, other publishers filed similar accusations, and many of the cases were later consolidated
• ▪The New York Times initially sued OpenAI in late 2023 for copyright infringement, alleging the company used its materials to train ChatGPT and other technologies

OpenAI's defense position

• ▪OpenAI has previously denied wrongdoing in the copyright lawsuits, stating that it respects the rights of content creators
• ▪In a previous court filing, OpenAI argued that ChatGPT is not a substitute for a subscription to The New York Times