Conservative groups are urging a Manhattan federal court not to allow AI giants to ‘recklessly crawl the internet’ without compensating news outlets and other content providers — warning that it could create an information monopoly and even jeopardize national security, The Post has learned.
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Post → urge → security
The Center for American Rights, a right-leaning nonprofit law firm focused on tech and telecom policy, outlined its argument in an amicus brief submitted in the sweeping copyright infringement lawsuit that pits Sam Altman’s OpenAI against a coalition of news outlets.
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that → lean → outlets
“If [superintelligence] is permitted to recklessly crawl the internet, even past paywalls, then we’ve effectively stripped these smaller companies of their competitive advantage and, worse, permanently solidified these SI companies as the ultimate distributors of our information,” the brief says.
“This completely expurgates the incentive for any creator to want to provide free, open content and solidifies SI companies as our sole provider of news and entertainment,” the brief adds.
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brief → permit → news
“That is a terrifying prospect and completely at odds with the Trump Administration’s goals of protecting copyright and a diversity of viewpoints (given Big Tech’s track record of removing politically disfavored content).
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That → protect → content
Plaintiffs, including the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, accuse OpenAI of stealing content without proper credit or compensation to train its AI models.
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Plaintiffs → include → models
OpenAI’s lawyers argue that usage of the copyrighted material is protected under “fair use” doctrine.
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usage → argue → doctrine
The brief’s cosigners include the Article III Project and the Internet Accountability Project, which are both led by Mike Davis, an influential lawyer known to have the ear of President Trump; the Bull Moose Project; Consumers For A Strong Economy; and conservative lawyer Joel Thayer.
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which → include → Economy
The Post has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
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Post → reach → comment
The brief argues that OpenAI’s interpretation of copyright law would make it even easier for Chinese firms to rip off American IP through “distillation” attacks — where an advanced AI model is used to train a less capable one without permission and at a fraction of the cost and time.
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model → argue → cost
Both OpenAI and rival Anthropic have accused Chinese firms like Z.AI and DeepSeek of using illegal distillation to build advanced models at a fraction of the cost and time of US competitors.
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OpenAI → accuse → competitors
“If the Court here agrees with OpenAI’s expansive view of fair use, it would not only encourage foreign adversaries to continue this obvious form of IP theft but also give them legal immunity to do so,” the brief says.
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brief → agree → immunity
The lawsuit was later consolidated with similar lawsuits brought by other plaintiffs, including “Game of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin, comedian Sarah Silverman and the New York Daily News.
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lawsuit → consolidate → Martin
Judge Sidney H. Stein rejected a bid by OpenAI to dismiss the lawsuit in March 2025, but has so far declined to rule on the “fair use” argument.
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Stein → reject → argument
Meanwhile, OpenAI gained a supporter last month in the form of President Trump’s Justice Department, which argued in a court filing that using copyrighted content to train AI models does not violate the law.
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using → gain → law
The DOJ argued that a ruling against OpenAI “would hamper competition in the market for LLMs, because only the largest technology companies might have the capital necessary to pay licensing fees.”
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companies → argue → fees
As The Post reported, the DOJ’s filing surprised may tech policy experts as it seemed to contradict the Trump administration’s own AI policy framework, released in March, which called on Congress to consider implementing agreements that would require AI firms to fairly compensate media firms for their articles.
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that → report → articles
Indeed, Axios reported that the DOJ’s filing that “surprised critical agencies,” including the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Copyright Office.
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that → report → Office
The cosigners of this week’s amicus brief express support for the Trump administration’s “vision for a dominant American future powered by Super Intelligence (SI)” – and they argue that strong copyright protections will help achieve that vision rather than hinder innovation at US firms.
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protections → express → firms
“Our goal with the brief is simple – to demonstrate that an America First legal and policy approach values both SI acceleration and IP protection,” the brief’s author, Center For American Rights President Daniel Suhr, told The Post.
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author → demonstrate → Post
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“Especially at a time of rampant AI tech theft by China, America First means protecting our innovative edge through real respect for IP.”
Trump administration officials have publicly signaled they are concerned about the threat of distillation by China and other foreign adversaries.
Pre-trial filings have already contained some bombshell revelations showing that executives at Microsoft and OpenAI privately fretted at copyright infringement.
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executives → start → infringement
One Microsoft director even worried that the tech firms were committing potentially the “largest theft of labor in human history” to train their AI models, according to documents unsealed last month.
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firms → worry → documents
The Aporia
