Several Top News Publications have Blocked OpenAI from accessing their content
Several top news publications like The New York Times, CNN and the Australian Broadcasting have blocked OpenAI from accessing their content.
OpenAI Blocked
Several top news publications have recently blocked OpenAI from accessing their content. The New York Times, CNN, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) are among the publications that have taken this step.
The reason for this move is to prevent OpenAI from using their content to train its AI models. The New York Times, for example, blocked OpenAI’s web crawler, meaning that the company cannot use content from the publication to train its AI models.
Further, OpenAI’s web crawler, called GPTBot, scans web pages to help improve its AI models. According to OpenAI, allowing GPTBot to access a site can help AI models become more accurate and improve their general capabilities and safety.
Notably, the New York Times updated its terms of service at the beginning of this month to prohibit the use of its content to train AI models. Further, CNN confirmed to Guardian Australia that it blocked GPTBot across its digital assets. Likewise, some other news publications like the Chicago Tribune and Australian Community Media (ACM) brands have also reportedly blocked OpenAI’s web crawler.
Notably, this means that the Sam Altman-run company cannot use content from the publication to train its AI models.
“Allowing GPTBot to access your site can help AI models become more accurate and improve their general capabilities and safety,” according to OpenAI.
In addition, NYT is also looking for legal options against Microsoft owned OpenAI. Additionally, protecting the property rights associated with its reporting.
Licensing Deal
The publication and OpenAI are in tense negotiations over reaching a licensing deal in which OpenAI would pay NYT for incorporating its stories in its artificial intelligence (AI) tools, NPR reported.
However, the discussions “have become so contentious that the paper is now considering legal action”. A lawsuit against OpenAI would set up the most high-profile legal battle yet over copyright protection in the generative AI era.
This development highlights the ongoing debate over the use of content by AI companies and the need for clear guidelines and regulations on how such content can be used. It remains to be seen how this situation will unfold and what impact it will have on the future of AI development.
