The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft over the use of its content to train generative artificial intelligence and large-language model systems, a move that could see the company receive billions of dollars in damages. The lawsuit contains an appeal to the "vital" importance of the Times's independent journalism to democracy, arguing that it is "increasingly rare and valuable". The publisher's lawsuit is the latest in a string of similar cases, including one brought by more than a dozen authors in September targeting the company for its use of their writing. Language learning models have faced increasing scrutiny since they exploded in popularity in the past year, with news outlets in particular concerned that the tools will spread misinformation attributed to them and utilize their content with no incentive to click through to the original source. ChatGPT launched in November 2022 and amassed 100 million users in just two months.

Last week, OpenAI and the German media conglomerate Axel Springer signed a multi-year licensing agreement. It allows OpenAI to incorporate articles from Axel Springer–owned outlets like Business Insider and Politico into its products, including ChatGPT. Although the deal centers on using journalistic work, reporters whose stories will be shared as part of the agreement were not consulted about the deal beforehand. Four Business Insider employees told WIRED that they found out about the AI deal at the same time it was announced publicly. PEN Guild, the US union which represents around 280 workers at Politico and E&E News, another Axel Springer publication, says it was "not consulted or informed about the decision to have robots summarize our work."

There is a tension at the heart of ChatGPT that may soon snap. Does the technology expand our world or constrain it? Which is to say, do AI-powered chatbots open new doors to learning and discovery, or do they instead risk siloing off information and leaving us stuck with unreliable access to truth? Earlier today, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced a partnership with the media conglomerate Axel Springer that seems to get us closer to an answer. Under the arrangement, ChatGPT will gain the capacity to present its users with "summaries of selected global news content" published by the news organizations in Axel Springer's portfolio, which includes Politico and Business Insider.

Axel Springer, the publisher of Business Insider and Politico, said on Wednesday it was partnering with OpenAI, which will pay the German media group to allow ChatGPT to summarize current articles in responses generated by the chatbot. "ChatGPT users around the world will receive summaries of selected global news content from Axel Springer's media brands," which also includes the German tabloid Bild, the two companies said in a statement. The chatbot's answers will include material otherwise kept behind a paywall and offer "links to the full articles for transparency and further information", they said. Axel Springer will be paid for making its content available to the US artificial intelligence firm, a spokesman for the media group told AFP. The deal is valid for several years and does not commit either side to exclusivity, leaving them free to sign new agreements, the spokesman said without giving more detail.

OpenAI will pay German publisher Axel Springer to use its news articles to train its AI models and show real-time information from Axel Springer's brands, which include Business Insider and Politico in the US and Bild and Welt in Europe, in ChatGPT's responses. None of the companies disclosed how much the deal was worth, but Bloomberg reported that OpenAI will pay the publisher tens of millions of euros over the next three years. "This partnership with Axel Springer will help provide people with new ways to access quality, real-time news content through our AI tools," said OpenAI's chief operating officer Brad Lightcap in a statement. "We are deeply committed to working with publishers and creators around the world and ensuring they benefit from advanced AI technology and new revenue models." OpenAI's partnership with Axel Springer comes on the heels of concerns from creators, authors, and publishers who have criticized and sued generative AI companies for training their models on their content without consent or compensation.

Media mogul Barry Diller warned on Wednesday that artificial intelligence (AI) could be as "destructive" to news publishers as free online news was in the early aughts. Speaking at the Sir Harry Evans Global Summit in Investigative Journalism, Diller, who co-founded Fox Broadcasting Company and is now chairman of publishing giant IAC, said he was teaming up with News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson and German publisher Axel Springer to protect news publishers from the threat of AI. Speaking in conversation with journalist and conference organizer Tina Brown, Diller said it was a "terrible mistake" for publishers, through inaction, to allow AI tools like ChatGPT to "suck up every known piece of work that has ever been done". Large language models like ChatGPT are trained on massive amounts of content scraped from across the internet. The billionaire, who is also chairman of Expedia, compared the potential impact of AI on media companies to the early days of online news before paywalls were introduced.

One of Europe's biggest media groups has warned journalists that artificial intelligence (AI) could steal their jobs, and has provided tips for how reporters can avoid the chop. The chief executive of Axel Springer -- which owns Insider, Politico and German tabloid newspaper Bild -- told employees in a memo Tuesday that "artificial Intelligence has the potential to make independent journalism better than it ever was -- or simply replace it." In the memo, shared with CNN, Mathias Döpfner predicts that AI will soon be able to aggregate information much better than humans, and urges newsrooms to place a greater emphasis on commentary, exclusive news and investigations that can't be done by machines. Journalists would still be needed to understand people's "true motives", he said. "In short, the creation of exclusive and attractive content remains irreplaceable and is going to become even more critical to success for publishers," Döpfner wrote.

Journalists are at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, the CEO of German media group Axel Springer has said. The announcement was made as the publisher sought to boost revenue at German newspapers Bild and Die Welt and transition to becoming a "purely digital media company". It said job cuts lay ahead, because automation and AI were increasingly making many of the jobs that supported the production of their journalism redundant. "Artificial intelligence has the potential to make independent journalism better than it ever was – or simply replace it," CEO Mathias Doepfner said in an internal letter to employees. AI tools like the popular ChatGPT promise a "revolution" in information, he said, and would soon be better at the "aggregation of information" than human journalists.

Almost a year later, Elon Musk talked about the robot again at the Cyber Rodeo event in Texas, this time under the Optimus Sub-Prime nickname. 'It may be hard to imagine it, but as you see Optimus' develop -- we will make sure it is safe, no terminator stuff or that kind of thing -- how it's really going to transform the world to a degree even greater than the cars. Currently, Tesla hasn't unveiled a working prototype of the robot, and it is not clear at what stage the development is at. The robot shown at the Cyber Rodeo event features the same proportions as humans: it is 5-foot-8 (172 cm) tall, 125 pounds (56 kg) heavy. In a conversation with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, Musk explained his plans further, saying that the robot will be a general focused humanoid, and that he hopes we will be able to download our brain characteristics into it, including our personality.

Hamburg News: How did you enter the AI sector? I started programming at my first employer, Axel Springer, out of curiosity. At the time, I was allowed to jointly found a start-up for Axel Springer and spent plenty of time working with our programmers, who encouraged and motivated me to programme. Later, I gained my first real programming experience at Soundcloud where I heard about artificial intelligence for the first time. I jumped onto the AI bandwagon through my Master's degree in America and later as part of my job in San Francisco. Hamburg News: What do you plan to do in future?