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TechTrump administration files brief backing OpenAI's fair use defense in NYT copyright case
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The Trump administration has filed a 20-page legal brief in the Southern District of New York, siding with OpenAI in its ongoing copyright lawsuit brought by The New York Times. The brief argues that training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted material without licenses should qualify as fair use under U.S. law. The government warns that restricting AI training would hinder American prosperity, slow scientific and creative progress, and make the market less competitive by allowing only the largest companies to afford licensing fees. The filing addresses one of the most significant unresolved legal questions for the AI industry: whether companies can use copyrighted works to train systems like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini without permission. The brief concludes that imposing broad copyright liability on AI training would be legally incorrect and contrary to the constitutional objective of copyright to promote creative progress. The article also notes a separate $1.5 billion settlement between Anthropic and authors over similar copyright infringement allegations.
Source report
Restricting AI Training Would Hinder 'American Prosperity,' Government Argues
Caroline Ryan | Wed, September 2, 2026 | 2 min read
The Trump administration has filed a 20-page legal brief supporting OpenAI's use of copyrighted works without licenses to train large language models, weighing in on an ongoing lawsuit filed by The New York Times in July.
The brief, filed in the Southern District of New York, states: "The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally."
Key Legal Question
The filing addresses one of the most significant unresolved legal issues facing the AI industry: whether companies can train models on copyrighted material without first obtaining permission.
- Systems such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are trained on vast collections of published works, including books, articles, and other copyrighted material.
- Publishers argue that using those works without licenses violates copyright law.
Government's Position
The U.S. government argues that training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted material should qualify as fair use. It warns that a narrower interpretation would:
- Slow AI development
- Limit scientific and creative advances
- Reduce market competitiveness by allowing only the largest companies to afford licensing fees
"Constraining LLM development under a misunderstanding of fair use doctrine would thwart such creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity and economic mobility," the brief stated.
Court Recommendation
The government urged the court not to impose broad copyright liability on AI training without licensing, noting:
"The fair-use inquiry hinges on the specific facts and uses at issue in each case. But it would be problematic—and legally incorrect—to impose broad copyright liability that would generally render training of AI models impermissible without licensing."
The brief concluded that LLM training is "consistent with that creative 'progress' that is the basic constitutional objective of copyright itself."
Related Legal Developments
Anthropic faced a similar lawsuit earlier this year related to copyright infringement. In July, a federal judge in San Francisco granted final approval to Anthropic's $1.5 billion class-action settlement with a group of authors who accused the AI startup of improperly using their books to train its Claude chatbot.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2024, was one of dozens brought by authors, publishers, and other copyright holders against AI companies over the use of copyrighted works to train large language models.
Photo: Shutterstock
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