Source: U.S. House Judiciary Committee Democrats

Representatives Jamie Raskin, Jerrold Nadler and Hank Johnson submitted an amicus brief challenging the Department of Justice’s position on using copyrighted works to train AI models. The lawmakers filed the brief in the Southern District of New York in In re OpenAI, Inc. Copyright Infringement Litigation. Raskin is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. Nadler is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust. Johnson is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet.

The dispute involves allegations that OpenAI and Microsoft used New York Times journalism without permission to develop AI products competing with the newspaper. According to the press release, DOJ supported AI companies by arguing that restrictions on copyrighted training texts would threaten American AI development and national security. The lawmakers argue that national security is not a statutory fair use factor. The lawmakers further contend that accepting DOJ’s reasoning would introduce a copyright exception that Congress did not enact. The brief asks the court to reject DOJ’s arguments and preserve copyright protections supporting compensation for writers, journalists and artists.