The New York Times and several news organizations have escalated their copyright lawsuit against OpenAI by asking a federal judge in Manhattan to sanction the company. The publishers allege that OpenAI misled the court regarding its ability to identify copyrighted material within its artificial intelligence systems. According to court filings, the plaintiffs argue that OpenAI withheld critical datasets and ChatGPT usage records necessary to determine if copyrighted articles were used in violation of law.

The publishers contend that OpenAI deleted billions of conversation logs while simultaneously claiming it lacked the technical capacity to search its systems for specific content. They cite testimony from an OpenAI employee that contradicts the company's earlier representations during the discovery process, indicating that searches for the publishers' content were possible after all.

OpenAI has rejected these allegations, characterizing them as blatantly false. A spokesperson for the company stated that as the Times' case weakens and claims are dropped, the publishers are persisting in efforts to invade user privacy. OpenAI maintains that producing conversation records compromises privacy and that it will defend the principles of fair use.

The lawsuit, initially filed by The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft in late 2023, alleges the companies used journalism without permission to train AI models. Additional publishers have since joined the litigation, including MediaNews Group newspapers such as the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, as well as Ziff Davis and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Key Parties Involved

As part of the sanctions motion, the publishers are seeking attorney fees associated with what they describe as unnecessary efforts to obtain evidence that should have been produced during discovery. This legal battle is part of a broader trend of challenges from content creators regarding the application of copyright law to AI training data.

OpenAI is pushing ChatGPT beyond a question-and-answer tool and deeper into workplace automation with ChatGPT Work. The new AI agent can break down complex assignments, work autonomously over extended periods, and generate spreadsheets, presentations, documents, and web applications. The company also introduced GPT-5.6, a new model family that delivers stronger multi-step reasoning, better adherence to templates, and improved use of reference materials compared to previous versions.

The launch comes as AI companies race to win enterprise customers by embedding AI agents into everyday business workflows. Rival Anthropic has made a similar push with Claude Cowork, designed to help users plan and execute complex, multi-step tasks. OpenAI reported that adoption of its workplace tools has already expanded beyond software developers. Its Codex AI coding agent, now integrated into ChatGPT Work, has surpassed 5 million weekly users, with more than 1 million utilizing it for tasks outside traditional programming.

Finance teams have adopted the tools to accelerate month-end reporting and forecasting by pulling source data, reconciling figures, building presentations, and reviewing outputs. This automation allows employees to spend more time analyzing results and advising leadership rather than preparing reports. The deployment extends across the company's ChatGPT interface, Codex platform, and API services.

Availability and Security

The new models and workplace features are accessible through the ChatGPT, Codex, and API platforms. ChatGPT Work includes enterprise controls built on the existing ChatGPT Enterprise infrastructure. These controls feature permissions for tool access, allowed actions, and monitoring through a Compliance API. An "Auto-review" security feature blocked all tested attempts by external red teams to extract protected information during evaluations.

Strategic Developments

OpenAI is folding the Codex app into the updated ChatGPT desktop experience while renaming the previous desktop client ChatGPT Classic. The company plans to transition users away from its standalone Atlas browser and expand ChatGPT features through a Chrome sidebar extension. The rollout comes as enterprises increasingly experiment with AI agents that can operate across software systems rather than simply generate text.