# Trump administration supports OpenAI in NYT copyright lawsuit, citing national interest > Source: > Published: 2026-09-02 16:16:13+00:00 Photo: Gonzalo Facello / Pexels # Trump administration supports OpenAI in NYT copyright lawsuit, citing national interest The government's first-ever statement of interest in AI copyright litigation argues that restricting LLM training on copyrighted text could undermine US competitiveness. The US government has picked a side in one of the most consequential legal battles in AI history. The Trump administration filed a statement of interest in The New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, arguing that training large language models on copyrighted material qualifies as fair use under US law. The filing, submitted on September 1-2, marks the first time the US government has formally intervened in AI copyright litigation involving a major publisher. ## What the government is actually arguing The administration’s brief frames the case not as a narrow copyright dispute but as a matter of national priority. It cites scientific advancement, economic development, and national security as reasons to protect AI companies’ ability to ingest copyrighted text during the training process. OpenAI has consistently argued that its use of copyrighted material is transformative, a key factor in fair use analysis. The government’s filing essentially endorses this framing, arguing that the transformative nature of AI technology justifies treating LLM training as fair use. Constraining that process, the brief suggests, would put the US at a competitive disadvantage in the global AI race. ## The lawsuit’s long and messy history The New York Times first filed suit in December 2023, accusing OpenAI and co-defendant Microsoft of scraping and using millions of copyrighted articles to train AI systems without permission. The paper is seeking billions of dollars in damages, arguing that OpenAI’s products directly compete with journalism and undermine its business model. In July 2026, the Times filed a motion for sanctions against OpenAI, alleging legal misconduct related to discovery and data handling. Specifically, the newspaper accused OpenAI of hiding its ability to access training data and manipulating ChatGPT conversations during the legal process. ## Why this matters beyond the courtroom The administration’s intervention signals that AI copyright law is no longer just a legal question. It’s a policy question with geopolitical dimensions. For the broader tech industry, the government’s position provides a measure of reassurance. Every major AI company, from Google to Anthropic to Meta, relies on vast quantities of text data to train its models. Much of that data is copyrighted. If the court accepts the fair use argument, it effectively validates the foundational practice behind modern AI development. Several other publishers have filed similar lawsuits against AI companies, and the outcome of this case will serve as a template. The case also raises a fundamental tension that no single court ruling can fully resolve. Copyright law was designed to balance the interests of creators with the public’s interest in access to knowledge and innovation, and neither the 1976 Copyright Act nor subsequent amendments anticipated a world where machines could consume and learn from the entire corpus of human writing in a matter of weeks. **Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our [Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).