USA Today Sues OpenAI, Citing Risks to News Subscriptions

ai copyright artificial intelligence content licensing digital publishing news subscriptions openai subscriber acquisition usa today Oct 09, 2026

The publisher, already licensing journalism to AI companies, seeks more than $250 million over alleged unauthorized use of its reporting.

USA Today Co. is already working with AI companies to license its journalism. Now it's suing OpenAI, accusing the company of using its reporting without permission and producing ChatGPT summaries that can compete with the original articles.

The lawsuit, filed October 8 in federal court in New York, involves content from 19 publications, including USA TODAY, the Detroit Free Press, The Arizona Republic and The Tennessean. The publishers are seeking more than $250 million in damages.

The dispute raises a business concern for subscription publishers. News organizations depend on readers finding and valuing their reporting. If an AI service gives someone enough information that they no longer need to visit the original publication, that can affect advertising opportunities and the ability to attract paying subscribers.

USA Today Co. Is Already Licensing Content to AI

The lawsuit comes as USA Today Co. is expanding its own business relationships with AI companies.

In July 2025, the company, then known as Gannett, announced an agreement with Perplexity, an AI-powered search service, to license journalism from USA TODAY and its network of more than 200 local publications.

The agreement allows content from those publications to appear in Perplexity's AI search experiences, including its Comet browser. The arrangement includes advertising revenue sharing, and the financial terms have not been disclosed.

At the time, CEO Michael Reed said the company wanted its journalism properly attributed and fairly compensated as AI becomes a larger part of how people find information.

That approach remains part of USA Today Co.'s business strategy. In its August 2026 earnings announcement, management said it expected revenue from content licensing and other digital activities to grow as it expanded its partnerships.

The company is pursuing commercial opportunities to distribute its reporting through AI services. Its lawsuit against OpenAI challenges what the publishers allege is use of that same type of content without permission or payment.

Publishers Challenge ChatGPT's Article Summaries

The complaint raises questions about both the material OpenAI used to develop its AI models and the answers ChatGPT provides to readers.

To support their claims, the publishers submitted examples of GPT-5.6 responses to requests for detailed summaries of specific newspaper articles. They allege that the responses closely followed the original reporting, sometimes reproducing its organization and substantial details.

One example involves an Indianapolis Star article about an FBI raid on a developer's home and business. According to the complaint, ChatGPT produced an extensive summary organized much like the original story. The publishers submitted similar examples involving reporting from other newspapers.

Their concern is that readers may get what they need from an AI-generated answer without visiting the newsroom that produced the reporting. Even when the response includes a link to the source, the publishers argue that readers may have little reason to follow it.

Those examples have not yet been tested in court. They don't establish that OpenAI infringed copyright or that the summaries caused subscribers to leave.

What the Publishers Say Is at Stake

Original reporting costs money. Newspapers pay journalists to gather information and produce stories that readers value. They then depend on advertising, subscriptions and other commercial arrangements to help pay for that work.

USA Today Co. argues that AI-generated summaries threaten those revenue sources. A reader who gets the information directly from ChatGPT may never visit the publication, reducing opportunities to earn advertising revenue or introduce that reader to a paid subscription.

The publishers also contend that unauthorized use of their reporting undermines their ability to negotiate licensing agreements with AI companies.

The lawsuit describes these as ongoing financial harms. However, it does not establish how many subscribers have been lost because of ChatGPT or how much revenue the alleged conduct may have cost the publishers.

What Happens Next

The publishers accuse OpenAI of copyright infringement and allege that certain OpenAI entities directed, controlled and profited from infringement carried out by others. They also claim OpenAI removed copyright-management information that identifies protected works and their owners.

Along with financial damages, they are asking the court to stop the alleged infringement and order the destruction of models and training datasets containing their copyrighted material. These are requests made in the complaint, and no court has granted them in this case.

USA Today Co. joins other publishers, including The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Newsday and numerous local newspapers, in bringing copyright claims against AI companies.

OpenAI has previously argued that training AI models on publicly available internet material qualifies as fair use under U.S. copyright law. In a January 2024 statement addressing a separate publisher lawsuit, the company said it was working to prevent its models from unintentionally reproducing protected content. OpenAI has also entered licensing agreements with news organizations.

Those statements reflect OpenAI's broader position and do not specifically address the USA Today complaint. OpenAI had not responded to The Verge's request for comment when its October 8 report was published.

Insider Take

USA Today Co. is already pursuing revenue from AI licensing while challenging another AI company's alleged use of its journalism without permission. The Perplexity agreement shows that the publisher sees commercial value in making its reporting available through AI services. The OpenAI lawsuit reflects its position that publishers should have a say in how that work is used and what they receive in return.

For subscription publishers, these arrangements bring a difficult business decision. Licensing can create revenue from content that has already been produced, but publishers also need to understand what happens to their own audiences when people consume that reporting elsewhere. An agreement that provides worthwhile compensation may still affect how readers discover the publication and whether they develop a direct relationship with it.

For subscription publishers, the value of an AI licensing agreement goes beyond the payment itself. Publishers also need to consider how their work is presented, whether readers can find their way back to the original publication and what the arrangement means for their ability to attract paying subscribers.

USA Today Co. is pursuing those commercial opportunities while challenging what it alleges is unauthorized use of its reporting. The court will decide the copyright claims. Publishers still have to decide what they're willing to license, what they expect in return and how those decisions affect their subscriber businesses.

Related Member Resources

The USA Today lawsuit raises two questions for publishers that depend on paying readers. What makes their journalism valuable enough to subscribe to when AI services can answer readers' questions? And how can they attract new subscribers if fewer people arrive through search? These resources help publishers examine both challenges.

Paid Content Strategy: What Makes Readers Willing to Subscribe?
Drawing on research into why readers pay for content, this guide helps publishers examine what makes their reporting valuable enough to support an ongoing subscription. It is particularly relevant when readers can get summaries or answers elsewhere and publishers need to understand what still gives people a reason to pay.
Post-SEO Subscriber Acquisition Playbook: Build Growth Beyond Search
This playbook examines how subscription businesses can find and convert new customers as AI-generated answers and declining search referrals change audience discovery. It helps operators assess direct audience channels, relationships they control and ways to turn interested readers into subscribers without depending so heavily on search traffic.

Sources

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. USA Today Co., Inc. et al. v. OpenAI Foundation et al., Complaint. Case No. 1:26-cv-08892, filed October 8, 2026.
USA Today Co. Gannett and USA TODAY Network Announce Strategic AI Content Licensing Agreement With Perplexity. July 30, 2025.
USA Today Co. Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results. August 6, 2026.
The Verge. USA Today Becomes the Latest Publisher to Sue OpenAI. October 8, 2026.
OpenAI. OpenAI and Journalism. January 8, 2024.