Court Docs Show Microsoft, OpenAI Feared AI Scraping Was 'Largest Theft of Labor'
Unsealed filings in the New York Times lawsuit reveal that executives warned their data scraping practices would damage publishers and create a 'doom loop' for the web.
Headline and summary written by an AI model from the linked articles; not reviewed by a person. How this was made
First reported by TechCrunch, 24 min ahead of the next publisher · who breaks stories first
This story has stopped developing; this page is its permanent record. More from that day
The story so far
8 publishers have covered this in 8 articles since 17 Sept 2026. TechCrunch published first, on 17 September at 19:46 UTC; Ars Technica followed 25 min later. The most recent article, from The Verge, appeared on 18 September at 21:07 UTC.
Outlets reporting it: TechCrunch (major outlet), Ars Technica (major outlet), Washington Post Business (major outlet), The Verge (major outlet), Engadget, Latest from Tom's Hardware, decrypt.co, CNET.
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How it unfolded
Every source in the order it published.
- TechCrunchMicrosoft exec called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,’ new unredacted filings reveal
- Ars TechnicaMicrosoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history”
- Washington Post BusinessMicrosoft exec called AI the ‘largest theft of labor’ in history, court records show
- EngadgetMicrosoft executive called OpenAI's web scraping the 'largest theft of labor in human history'
- Latest from Tom's HardwareMicrosoft director called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,’ while OpenAI head brands ChatGPT an ‘existential threat’ to publishers — revelations come from legal briefs filed in NYT lawsuit
- decrypt.coMicrosoft Staff Asked If AI Scraping Was 'Largest Theft of Labor in Human History'
- CNETAI Firms Knew Chatbots Were an ‘Existential Threat’ to Journalists, Court Docs Show
- The VergeOpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web
Sources
Every article we clustered into this story. Headlines link to the publisher.
- OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web The Verge ·
- Microsoft exec called AI the ‘largest theft of labor’ in history, court records show Washington Post Business ·
- Microsoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history” Ars Technica ·
- Microsoft exec called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,’ new unredacted filings reveal TechCrunch ·
- AI Firms Knew Chatbots Were an ‘Existential Threat’ to Journalists, Court Docs Show CNET
- Microsoft Staff Asked If AI Scraping Was 'Largest Theft of Labor in Human History' decrypt.co
- Microsoft director called AI scraping ‘the largest theft of labor in human history,’ while OpenAI head brands ChatGPT an ‘existential threat’ to publishers — revelations come from legal briefs filed in NYT lawsuit Latest from Tom's Hardware
- Microsoft executive called OpenAI's web scraping the 'largest theft of labor in human history' Engadget
In this story
- OpenAI
- Microsoft
- New York Times