Recently unsealed court documents in the New York Times' case against OpenAI and Microsoft contain internal materials warning of a 'doom loop' for the web and describing the scraping of data to train AI models as a massive 'theft of labor', according to The Verge.
Key facts
- Court documents were unsealed in the New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, according to The Verge.
- The Verge reports the companies' own documentation warned the effort was starting a 'doom loop' that would damage the web.
- According to The Verge, internal materials characterised the scraping of data to train models as the 'largest theft of labor in human history'.
- The Verge published the report on 18 September 2026.
- OpenAI and Microsoft's responses to the specific documents were not detailed in the available source.
Recently unsealed court documents tied to the New York Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft contain internal warnings about the potential harms of the companies’ AI development, according to The Verge.
The documentation warned that the effort was starting what was described as a ‘doom loop’ that would damage the web, The Verge reported. The outlet said the phrase reflected concerns about the long-term health of the online ecosystem as AI systems draw on web content.
The same materials characterised the scraping of data used to train the companies’ models as the ‘largest theft of labor in human history’, according to The Verge’s account of the filings.
The Verge described the unsealed documents as ‘pretty damning’, framing them as internal acknowledgements of the risks the companies were creating even as they advanced their AI products. That characterisation is the outlet’s own.
The material emerges from ongoing litigation brought by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, a case that has drawn attention to how AI companies collect and use published material.
The available source did not include OpenAI’s or Microsoft’s specific responses to the unsealed documents, and the full context of the quoted internal language could not be independently confirmed.
Why it matters
The unsealed documents feed a growing legal and public debate over how AI companies use published work to build their products. If internal materials show the firms anticipated harm to the web and to content creators, as The Verge reports, it could bear on the outcome of major litigation and on broader rules governing AI training data.
Frequently asked questions
What did the unsealed documents reportedly say?
According to The Verge, the companies' own documentation warned that they were starting a 'doom loop' that would damage the web and characterized data scraping to train models as the 'largest theft of labor in human history.'
Who is involved in the case?
The documents were unsealed in the New York Times' case against OpenAI and Microsoft, per The Verge.
When was this reported?
The Verge published its report on September 18, 2026.