Wikimedia urges narrow fair use reading in New York Times AI copyright case

A ruling that is too broad in either direction could affect free knowledge and open source tools, not just the parties to the suit.

The Wikimedia Foundation filed an amicus brief in the New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, declining to back either side and urging a narrower reading of fair use for AI. It argues that training large language models on copyrighted material could qualify as fair use when the output is meaningfully new, but that systems reproducing articles to users in ways that replace the originals should need a license. The foundation warns that an overly sweeping ruling in either direction could harm free knowledge and open source tools, noting Wikipedia's own content is a major training source while editors also use AI to catch vandalism and copyright violations. A summary judgment decision is expected soon, and the case is one of more than a dozen similar suits moving through the courts.