The Trump administration has entered the fray in a high-stakes legal battle between tech giant OpenAI and several media companies, including The Intercept. In a federal court filing in New York, the Justice Department argued that OpenAI’s access to a wide range of intellectual property is crucial for scientific progress and maintaining the United States‘ lead in the global race for artificial intelligence.
The case centers around OpenAI’s use of copyrighted materials to train its large language models, the technology behind generative AI tools like ChatGPT. The Intercept and other media plaintiffs argue that this practice infringes on their copyrights, while OpenAI contends that it falls under the doctrine of fair use.
The Justice Department’s Position
The Justice Department’s filing, signed by associate attorneys general Stanley Woodward Jr. and Brett Shumate, along with the attorney general’s senior counsel Michael Weisbuch, emphasizes the importance of a robust AI industry for the United States. The filing states, “The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally.”
Matt Topic, the attorney representing The Intercept, criticized the administration’s position, arguing that it threatens the financial survival of media outlets. “If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies,” Topic warned.
The Legal Battle
The Intercept originally filed its lawsuit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft in February 2024, alleging that OpenAI’s use of its journalists’ work constituted a breach of copyright law. In November 2024, the judge dismissed all of The Intercept’s claims against Microsoft but allowed its claim against OpenAI to proceed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The case was later consolidated with other media plaintiffs, including the New York Times, Tribune Media Company, and Ziff Davis, under U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein. OpenAI has argued that its practice of using copyright-protected materials to train its large language models falls under the domain of fair use.
The Implications of the Case
The Justice Department’s filing supports OpenAI’s fair-use defense, accusing the Times and other plaintiffs of taking an overly narrow definition of the doctrine. The government argues that OpenAI’s use of the material meets the criteria for transformative use one of the ways in which fair use comes into play.
“In this litigation, the New York Times seeks to narrow fair-use doctrine to exclude the training of OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs). That result would be inconsistent with basic copyright law principles and severely hamper ‘the Progress of Science and useful Arts,’” the filing says. “An erroneous fair use ruling would hamper competition in the market for LLMs, because only the largest technology companies might have the capital necessary to pay licensing fees.”
The filing is the latest move from the Trump administration to protect the interests of U.S.-based artificial intelligence companies amid an AI arms race with companies based in other countries, most notably China. In December 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at creating a federal standard, applicable in all 50 states, to “ensure that the United States wins the AI race, as we must.”
Topic, The Intercept’s attorney, said this position — combined with the fact that the Justice Department has not been privy to any discovery in the case — shows that the Trump administration is operating from a fixed position in support of tech companies, rather than arguing the merits of the case.
“What they’re saying isn’t based on any understanding of actual facts,” Topic said. “It just reflects what Microsoft’s and OpenAI’s PR machines have been putting out into the public.”
