Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO of The New York Times (NYT), said on June 22, 2026, at an Axios event in Cannes, France, that the company is confident it will prevail in its copyright lawsuits against OpenAI/Microsoft and Perplexity.
June 22, 2026 · Cannes
"We will prevail": The Times draws its line against AI
NYT CEO Meredith Kopit Levien says she's confident in the company's copyright suits against OpenAI/Microsoft and Perplexity AI — "These companies that make the LLMs have taken our work. They've used it without our permission."
~$20M
Spent on AI-related lawsuits over 2½ years
2
Active suits — OpenAI/Microsoft & Perplexity AI
3+
Publishers now suing Perplexity (NYT, Chicago Tribune, Dow Jones)
Two cases, same court — a two-year span
OpenAI / Microsoft
Filed Dec 27, 2023
Millions of articles allegedly used to train LLMs without permission.
S.D.N.Y. · Ongoing
Perplexity AI
Filed Dec 5, 2025
Scraping, copying & redistribution; trademark dilution — continuing after a cease-and-desist.
S.D.N.Y. · Ongoing
Enforcement and licensing, in parallel
The Times is fighting in court while still cutting deals — "High quality journalism deserves to be paid for."
Sue (enforce)
+
License (Amazon, May 2025)
→
"Building resilience"
WHAT'S AT STAKE — FOR PUBLISHERS
A possible precedent on whether AI training counts as fair use — and on the value of original journalism as training data.
THE CONCERN
An "abundance of takes and much less original reporting," with unauthorized use seen as undermining the sustainability of journalism. No settlement announced.
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