2026-09-05 / Signal #3
Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft — hometown paper vs. hometown giant
“Microsoft’s hometown newspaper just sued Microsoft for training on its Pulitzer coverage of Boeing.”
The Story
The Seattle Times (Microsoft’s hometown paper) and Newsday sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging they scraped hundreds of thousands of articles—including paywalled and Pulitzer-winning Boeing 737 MAX coverage—and that ChatGPT can reproduce 88-word verbatim stretches from a headline + URL. They want damages and destruction of the training sets. Microsoft said it was “surprised.” The papers previously took Microsoft/OpenAI fellowship money.
Why It Matters
Institutions eating themselves. The local paper that covered Boeing crashes is now suing the company down the road because the model regurgitates the crash coverage. Media identity, money, and the snake-eating-tail quote in the complaint.
Evidence
Seattle Times, Newsday, Reuters (filed Friday in SDNY)
Sources
Daily scan: 2026-09-05