US Justice Department files statement backing fair use for AI training in publisher cases

What happened

On 1 September 2026, the US Department of Justice filed a 20-page statement of interest in the consolidated copyright litigation against OpenAI (MDL 1:25-md-03143, S.D.N.Y., before Judge Sidney Stein), the proceeding that includes the New York Times suit. The filing states that the United States has a strong interest in courts rejecting the claim that training large language models on copyrighted texts violates copyright law, describing training as exceedingly transformative because it converts text into numerical representations. It draws a three-stage line through the AI pipeline: it defends the training stage while leaving claims about data-acquisition practices and output-stage reproduction of protected expression unaddressed. The filing is signed by Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr., Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, and DOJ senior counsel Michael Weisbuch.

Why it may matter to you

This is the first time the federal government has formally weighed in on the wave of AI-training copyright cases. Its reasoning separates training from acquisition and outputs - a distinction other courts have also drawn, and one that cuts across cases brought by authors, publishers and labels.

What is not yet known

A statement of interest is not binding on the court; the judge decides the fair-use question independently. The filing resolves no claim and the government is not a party to the case.