Newspaper sues chatbots

The New York Times is taking artificial intelligence to court. In a copyright infringement lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan on Dec. 27, the newspaper claims OpenAI and Microsoft used millions of its articles without permission to train the tech companies’ AI programs. The lawsuit aims to hold the ­companies responsible for “billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages.”

OpenAI, Microsoft, and other tech businesses scrape the internet for information that is used to train chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot. While some of the information gathered is in the public domain, other material is not. Chatbot creators have said their scraping practices are protected by the fair use doctrine.

While the Times is the largest media outlet to sue OpenAI, ­independent authors this summer filed their own lawsuit against the company. The Associated Press has negotiated a licensing agreement for OpenAI to use its articles.

Seattle delivery downer

The Target-owned delivery service Shipt said it would pause operations in Seattle beginning Jan. 10 due to new city regulations. On Jan. 13, two Seattle ordinances billed as “PayUp” laws were ­scheduled to take effect, requiring app-based platforms to give gig workers minimum pay and paid sick leave.

Shipt offers members same-day delivery services from retailers including Target, Petco, and CVS. In a statement, the company said Seattle’s new ordinances would cause “significant operational challenges” and hinder it from offering quality services. The company is offering customers refunds for the remainder of annual and monthly memberships.

The Seattle City Council in November passed another ordinance that will impose a 10-cent fee for gig worker deliveries of online orders starting in 2025. The revenue generated by that fee is intended to help pay for the enforcement of the PayUp laws. Transportation companies like Uber and Lyft are exempt from the fee. —L.C.

China’s video game stock drop

Stocks for Chinese video game makers tumbled in December in response to new government rules for online games. China’s National Press and Publication Administration on Dec. 22 proposed eliminating daily play rewards and limiting how much money players can spend within a game. After the announcement, tech giant Tencent Holdings lost $46 billion in market value. The Chinese government days later approved new licenses for 105 online games and said it would review the proposed rules. —L.C.