GoKawiilWikimedia files amicus brief in NYT v. OpenAI copyright case
The Wikimedia Foundation filed a court brief in lawsuits brought by publishers including The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, declining to back either side. It argued that AI firms should be allowed to train models on copyrighted material under fair use, but that chatbots reproducing that text verbatim to users—without honoring Creative Commons attribution terms—cross a legal line.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Wikimedia warns that a sweeping ruling in either direction could backfire: a win for publishers might let copyright holders block even transformative AI uses, while a win for AI firms could let companies ignore licensing terms and disrupt how knowledge flows between creators and the public. Because Wikipedia both supplies training data to AI systems and competes with chatbots for readers, the outcome could reshape its traffic and its legal footing simultaneously.
- Wikimedia filed an amicus brief taking a middle position in the NYT v. OpenAI copyright litigation.
- It wants AI training on copyrighted text protected under fair use, but chatbot outputs that reproduce licensed text held accountable.
- The foundation says AI chatbots already divert traffic from Wikipedia while relying heavily on its content for training.
Source: theverge.com — Lauren Feiner, 2026-10-30
Published there as: “Wikipedia’s operator says a bad AI copyright ruling could threaten the open web”
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