• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

OpenAI has been handed a setback in its effort to avoid having to hand over log information in the class-action copyright case being pursued by New York Daily News and other publications. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang has denied a motion by OpenAI to reconsider an earlier order and has instructed it to produce “20 Million ChatGPT Logs within 7 days of completing the de-identification process.” 

As an initial matter, Wang wrote: “OpenAI’s motion for reconsideration should be denied because OpenAI has failed to “put forth any facts or law that the Court did not consider and that would compel a different conclusion.” 

Wang added, “Contrary to OpenAI’s contention, News Plaintiffs have not conceded that “at least 99.99% of the conversation logs are irrelevant.” 

The case, which has been consolidated includes MediaNews Group and Tribune Co., companies owned by Alden Global Capital. Also among the plaintiffs are The New York Times. 

The judge also noted that production of the 20 Million ChatGPT Logs “is proportional to the needs of the case,” and can be done while protecting consumer privacy. “The total universe of retained consumer output logs is in the tens of billions,” she observed. 

Wang continued the logs are “clearly relevant to News Plaintiffs’ output claims to the extent that they contain partial or whole reproductions of News Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and to OpenAI’s affirmative defenses to the extent that they contain other user activity—and News Plaintiffs are entitled to discovery on both.” 

The decision was promptly hailed by the plaintiffs’ side. 

"OpenAI's leadership was hallucinating when they thought they could get away with withholding evidence about how their business model relies on stealing from hardworking journalists, and we look forward to holding them accountable for their ongoing misappropriation of our work,” says Frank Pine, executive editor of MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing, in a statement. “They should pay for the copyright-protected work they use to build and maintain their apps and products, and they know it."