News Publishers Sue OpenAI and Microsoft Over Unpaid Use of Their Content

The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism and 59 other publishers, together controlling over 500 news outlets across the United States, have launched a collective lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing the companies of infringing copyright by extracting articles without consent or compensation to train their AI models. Represented by the mission-driven firm Platkin LLP, the plaintiffs argue that this practice, combined with AI-generated search summaries, has caused a substantial fall in organic search traffic to news sites, as documented by one outlet Institute report that recorded a 33% global and 38% U.S. decline between November 2024 and November 2025.

Pew Research data further reveal that click-through rates to external sites drop from 15% to 8% when an AI Overview box is present, and users are more likely to end their sessions. The filing follows other high-profile suits, such as the three-year-old case brought by one outlet. In addition to legal action, several small outlets are seeking emergency fundraising to offset revenue losses caused by reduced traffic.