pying our clients' journalism was fair and legal, it wouldn't have hid the truth about having done it. 

The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, becoming the first news outlet to bring legal action against the generative AI company to protect its copyright. The Daily News, Center for Investigative Reporting and Ziff Davis filed separate suits in 2024 alleging similar behavior. The Times has spent more than $28 million on litigation costs against AI companies, $4.2 million of which came during 2026's first financial quarter.

Many news outlets have tried to walk a line between protecting their work and partnering with AI companies for licensing opportunities as AI chatbots and summaries eat into digital traffic and the advertising dollars that accompany it. The Times, which has also sued AI company Perplexity for similar alleged infringement, struck a content-licensing deal with Amazon for  AI-related uses  last year, and it is also developing its own use cases for the technology within its newsroom.