News Outlets Seek Sanctions Against OpenAI in Copyright Case

Access to training datasets and response logs is a recurring technical and legal fault line; how courts rule on discovery standards for large-model training data will shape auditability and compliance requirements across the industry. According to a motion filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and reported by the Associated Press and Bloomberg Law, The New York Times and several other publishers asked a judge on July 9, 2026, to impose sanctions on OpenAI for what the motion describes as a "deliberate and systemic effort to obstruct discovery." The filing alleges OpenAI hid or destroyed the company's ability to search training datasets and ChatGPT output logs, and quotes New York Daily News attorney Steven Lieberman saying OpenAI has been "making misrepresentations" for two years, per AP. The motion names multiple news organizations and follows the Times' 2023 suit against OpenAI and Microsoft.