San Francisco, CA OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Thursday, June 6, 2025, that the company will appeal a court decision in its ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit with The New York Times. The ruling reportedly requires OpenAI to preserve ChatGPT output data indefinitely at the Times' request, a mandate Altman argues fundamentally compromises user privacy and is a core principle OpenAI is prepared to fight.

The New York Times filed suit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft in late 2023, alleging the unauthorized use of millions of its copyrighted articles to train the large language models (LLMs) powering ChatGPT. OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap called the data retention demand a “sweeping and unnecessary demand” that “fundamentally conflicts with the privacy commitments we have made to our users.” Altman further introduced the concept of "AI privilege," suggesting that interactions with AI should have confidentiality protections akin to those with lawyers or doctors.

The High-Stakes Battle Over AI and Copyright

This legal battle highlights the escalating tension between generative AI and existing intellectual property laws. An April court opinion indicated The Times had made a plausible case that OpenAI induced users to infringe its copyrights, allowing the claims to proceed. A final ruling in favor of The New York Times could force significant changes in how AI models are trained and expose AI companies to substantial financial liabilities. Conversely, a ruling favoring OpenAI might solidify current training practices but could intensify calls for legislative reform to protect copyright holders. This landmark case could have profound implications for the future of AI development, intellectual property law, and the burgeoning debate over user privacy in the age of AI.