OpenAI and Microsoft are facing an expanding copyright lawsuit filed by The New York Times, which alleges that articles published between 1928 and 2024 were used without authorization to train models such as ChatGPT. Discovery materials and July 2026 deposition testimony indicate that OpenAI searched internally for copyrighted content before the December 2023 lawsuit was filed, despite earlier representations that it could not effectively monitor its training data. The discovery also identified a database monitoring roughly 78 million ChatGPT conversations for copyright compliance. The Times and other publishers are seeking sanctions, arguing that OpenAI’s previous statements about tracking copyrighted material were misleading. In June 2026, NYT Publisher A.G. Sulzberger called the alleged unauthorized use of journalism to train AI "brazen theft of intellectual property." By September 2026, about 160 regional publications had joined the case, which is before Judge Sidney H. Stein in the Southern District of New York at the summary judgment stage. The US Department of Justice has filed a brief supporting OpenAI’s fair use defense (a legal exception for limited copyrighted use). A ruling for publishers could pressure major AI companies to negotiate licensing agreements with content creators and alter the economics of training large language models. The case’s consolidation, the DOJ intervention and pending motions point to a potentially consequential ruling in the coming months.