OpenAI Challenges Court Order to Preserve ChatGPT Logs in NYT Copyright Lawsuit

OpenAI is pushing back against a court order requiring it to indefinitely preserve ChatGPT output logs as part of an ongoing copyright lawsuit filed by The New York Times, Reuters reported.

The company argues the directive undermines its user privacy commitments.

In a filing submitted on June 3, OpenAI asked U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein to vacate the May preservation order, which mandates the segregation and retention of all output data.

The order followed a request from the newspaper, which sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 for allegedly using millions of its articles without permission to train ChatGPT.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the demand “inappropriate” and warned it could set a “bad precedent,” adding, “We will fight any demand that compromises our users’ privacy.”

Judge Stein previously said the newspaper had shown that OpenAI and Microsoft may have induced copyright infringement.