OpenAI and Microsoft were internally warned that their AI strategy could trigger a so-called “doom loop” damaging the web, according to recently unsealed court documents filed in the New York Times’ legal case against the two companies.
The documentation contains stark assessments from within the companies. It characterised the scraping of data used to train AI models as the “largest theft of labour in human history” and claimed that the approach made a “complete mockery of the idea of fair use”. The filing runs to 92 pages and cites a range of figures connected to both firms.
Microsoft distances itself from internal comments
Several of the most striking quotations are attributed to Brent Hecht, Microsoft’s Director of Applied Science. The company has sought to separate itself from his assertions. Microsoft spokesperson Alex Haurek said the comments “reflect one employee’s individual perspective, are not a legal analysis, and do not represent the company’s views”.
In a separate filing, Jordan Usdan, General Manager for Data Strategy and Operations at Microsoft AI, described Hecht’s role as adversarial. He said Hecht “holds divergent, academic, and forward-looking views about how data ecosystems for AI should operate” and is employed at Microsoft “to bring asymmetrical, futuristic, and academic points of view”, adding that Hecht does not speak for the company on his theoretical views regarding AI’s potential effect on content creators.
Warnings of an ‘existential threat’ to publishers
The documents suggest the companies were aware they posed an “existential threat” to publishers such as the New York Times. Hecht described the harvesting of data by ChatGPT and Copilot as the “largest theft of labour in human history”.
An internal Microsoft document stated: “Our AI content strategy has started a ‘doom loop’ that will hurt the performance of our models and the entire web at the same time.” It added that it was “highly unusual that an end-product threatens the economic foundations of its essential suppliers, but that is the situation we have created for our LLM business with respect to its ‘content supply chain'”.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella acknowledged that chatbots have largely replaced search and removed the need for users to go directly to the source for information. The filing also references OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, who referred to the potential of making “gazillions” of dollars through commercial AI. Additional statements are attributed to OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and other employees at both companies. The court documents were unsealed as part of the ongoing case brought by the New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft.
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