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Microsoft Executive Calls AI Scraping 'Largest Theft of Labor in Human History'
M
Moneycontrol•20-09-2026, 11:05
Microsoft Executive Calls AI Scraping 'Largest Theft of Labor in Human History'
- •Microsoft's Director of Applied Sciences, Brent Hecht, has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging they use online published content to train AI models.
- •Hecht described this practice as the “largest theft of labour in human history,” stating millions will view it as an astonishing theft.
- •Unsealed court filings reveal Microsoft's internal research found Copilot could reduce click-throughs to The New York Times by up to 93%.
- •AI chatbots allow users to get news directly from the platform, bypassing traditional news websites.
- •Microsoft and OpenAI maintain a fair-use defense, arguing they train AI models on copyrighted material without reproducing it outright, while news organizations push for a ruling expected in 2027.
Key Questions Answered
Brent Hecht described the practice of AI companies training models on online published content as the largest theft of labour in human history.
The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI in 2023 after ChatGPT was unveiled, alleging unauthorized use of their content to train AI models.
Microsoft and OpenAI are relying on a fair-use defence, arguing that they train AI models on copyrighted material instead of reproducing it outright.
