How we’re responding to The New York Times’ data demands in order to protect user privacy

Source: OpenAI Date: 2025-06-05 URL: https://openai.com/index/response-to-nyt-data-demands

Summary

OpenAI’s public response to the New York Times’ legal discovery demands in their copyright lawsuit — pushing back on NYT’s request for user conversation data, citing user privacy protection as the reason to resist broad data disclosure. OpenAI frames itself as protecting users’ private conversations from becoming evidence in a commercial dispute.

Implications

Legal/privacy thread. The NYT lawsuit is one of the highest-stakes copyright cases in AI history; the discovery phase where OpenAI resists user data disclosure is a pivotal moment. OpenAI’s “protecting user privacy” framing is strategically smart — it positions them as the user’s advocate rather than a defendant protecting corporate interests. The outcome of this discovery dispute will establish precedent for how user conversation data can be used in AI copyright litigation, with implications for every major AI platform.