Wikimedia weighs in on OpenAI and New York Times copyright case: an unfavorable ruling could threaten the open web
The Wikimedia Foundation has weighed in on the copyright lawsuit between OpenAI and the New York Times. General Counsel Stephen LaPorte said that if a ruling applies the fair use doctrine without careful consideration, it could threaten the sustainability of free knowledge and stifle the development of open-source technology. Wikimedia believes AI companies should comply with licensing requirements: using Wikipedia content requires attribution under the Creative Commons license, and any adapted works must carry the same license. CEO Bernadette Meehan said that expanding access to knowledge through AI is an important goal, but it must respect the contributors and communities that make reliable knowledge possible.
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Wikimedia has weighed in on the copyright case between OpenAI and the New York Times, so readers can understand where the open knowledge community stands on the boundaries of fair use.
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“A ruling that does not apply fair use principles carefully could threaten the sustainability of free knowledge, and stifle the development of open source technologies, ultimately impacting access to information for everyone in both cases,” Wikimedia Foundation general council Stephen LaPorte says in a statement. “The court needs to understand that Wikipedia is created through a collaborative process that requires a strong foundation of open and accessible human knowledge to thrive.”
In those cases, Wikimedia says that AI companies should respect licensing requirements to use such information. For Wikipedia, this would mean crediting the original source of information under its Creative Commons license, which also requires “any remix or adaptations” to remain under that same license.
“We are taking a position in this case to defend the free and open human knowledge that Wikipedia depends on,” Wikimedia CEO Bernadette Meehan says in a statement. “Expanding access to knowledge through AI is a powerful goal, but it must respect the people, contributors, and communities that make reliable knowledge possible. Finding this balance is both a mutual benefit and a shared responsibility for the entire information ecosystem.”