The Times said it is the first major US media organization to sue OpenAI and Microsoft, which created ChatGPT and other AI platforms, over copyright issues.

It said the defendants were trying to "free-ride on The Times’s massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment," according to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

The Times is not seeking a specific amount of damages, but it said OpenAI and Microsoft have caused "billions of dollars" in damages. It also wants the companies to destroy chatbot models and training sets that incorporate its material.