Wikimedia Foundation Files Amicus Brief in The New York Times v. OpenAI Lawsuit

The Wikimedia Foundation has submitted an amicus brief in the ongoing copyright lawsuit between The New York Times, OpenAI, and Microsoft, warning that extreme rulings in either direction could harm the open web and the future of free knowledge.

The New York Times has argued that tech companies should not have unrestricted access to publish and use its content. Conversely, OpenAI and Microsoft contend that training artificial intelligence models on published data is essential for technological progress and constitutes fair use.

The Wikimedia Foundation's Proposed Third Way

Rather than fully endorsing either side, the Wikimedia Foundation advocates for a balanced approach to fair use in the context of AI development:

• Model Training: Scraping copyrighted data should qualify as fair use only if the resulting large language models (LLMs) create something fundamentally new and distinct from the source materials.
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): The foundation supports RAG—a technique that optimizes LLM outputs by referencing external knowledge bases—provided the models do not regurgitate pre-existing articles without proper attribution.

Potential Impacts on the Open Web

In the filed brief, Wikimedia's General Counsel Stephen LaPorte emphasized that a broad rejection of fair use could stifle open-source technology and free knowledge. Conversely, an unchecked blanket fair use ruling could create a closed web lacking accessible secondary sources.

• Wikipedia serves as one of the primary high-quality datasets utilized for training modern AI models.
• A summary judgment in the case is anticipated in the near future.
• This lawsuit is one of numerous similar legal challenges currently moving through the courts.

Practical Implications and Verification

Readers and researchers can track court filings through official legal databases or monitor public statements directly from the Wikimedia Foundation and the involved parties to verify ongoing developments in this legal proceeding.