While the newspapers’ publishers have spent billions of dollars to send “real people to real places to report on real events in the real world,” the two tech firms are “purloining” the papers’ reporting without compensation “to create products that provide news and information plagiarized and stolen,” according to the lawsuit in federal court.

“We can鈥檛 allow OpenAI and Microsoft to expand the Big Tech playbook of stealing our work to build their own businesses at our expense,” said Frank Pine, executive editor of Media色情论坛 Group and Tribune Publishing, which own seven of the newspapers. “The misappropriation of news content by OpenAI and Microsoft undermines the business model for news. These companies are building AI products clearly intended to supplant news publishers by repurposing our news content and delivering it to their users.”

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday morning in the Southern District of New York on behalf of the Media色情论坛 Group-owned Mercury 色情论坛, Denver Post, Orange County Register and St. Paul Pioneer-Press; Tribune Publishing’s Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel; and the New York Daily 色情论坛.

Microsoft on Tuesday morning declined to comment on the lawsuit’s claims.

OpenAI said Tuesday morning it takes “great care” in its products and design process to support news companies. “We are actively engaged in constructive partnerships and conversations with many news organizations around the world to explore opportunities, discuss any concerns, and provide solutions,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. “We see immense potential for AI tools like ChatGPT to deepen publishers鈥� relationships with readers and enhance the news experience.”

Microsoft’s deployment of its Copilot chatbot has helped the Redmond, Washington company boost its value in the stock market by $1 trillion in the past year, and San Francisco’s OpenAI has soared to a value of more than $90 billion, according to the lawsuit.

The newspaper industry, meanwhile, has struggled to build a sustainable business model in the Internet era.

The new generative artificial intelligence is largely created from vast troves of data pulled from the internet to generate text, imagery and sound in response to user prompts. The release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 sparked a massive surge in generative AI investment by companies large and small, building and selling聽products that could answer questions, write essays, produce photo, video and audio simulations, create computer code, and make art and music.

A flurry of lawsuits followed, by artists, musicians, authors, computer coders, and news organizations who claim聽聽for “training” generative AI violates federal copyright law.

Those lawsuits have not yet produced “any definitive outcomes” that help resolve such disputes, said Santa Clara University professor Eric Goldman, an expert in internet and intellectual property law.

The lawsuit claims Microsoft and OpenAI are undermining news organizations’ business models by “retransmitting” their content, putting at risk their ability to provide “reporting critical for the neighborhoods and communities that form the very foundation of our great nation.”

Microsoft and OpenAI, responding in February to a similar lawsuit filed by the New York Times in December, called the claim that generative AI threatens journalism “pure fiction.” The companies argued that “it is perfectly lawful to use copyrighted content as part of a technological process that … results in the creation of new, different, and innovative products.”

Pine, who is also executive editor of the Southern California 色情论坛 Group 鈥� which publishes the Orange County Register and 10 other newspapers 鈥� and the Bay Area 色情论坛 Group, said Microsoft and OpenAI are stealing content from news publishers to build their products.

The two companies pay their engineers, programmers, and electricity bills, “but they don鈥檛 want to pay for the content without which they would have no product at all,” Pine said. “That鈥檚 not fair use, and it鈥檚 not fair. It needs to stop.”

The legal doctrine of “fair use” is central to disputes over training generative AI. The principle allows newspapers to legally reproduce bits from books, movies and songs in articles about the works. Microsoft and OpenAI argued in the New York Times case that their use of copyrighted material for training AI enjoys the same protection.

Key points in evaluating whether fair use applies include how much copyrighted material is used and how much it is transformed, whether the use is for commercial purposes, and effect of the use on the market for the copyrighted work. Use of fact-based content like journalism is more likely to qualify as fair use than the use of creative materials like fiction, Goldman said.

Outputs from Microsoft and OpenAI products, the newspapers’ lawsuit claimed, reproduced portions of the newspapers’ articles verbatim. Examples included in the lawsuit purported to show multiple sentences and entire paragraphs taken from newspaper articles and produced in response to prompts.

Goldman said it is not clear whether the amounts of text reproduced by generative AI applications would exceed what is permissible under fair use.

Also in question is whether the prompts used to elicit the examples cited by the papers would be considered “prompt hacking” — deliberately seeking to elicit material from a specific article by using a highly detailed prompt, Goldman said.

The lawsuit’s example of alleged copyright infringement of one Mercury 色情论坛 article about failure of the Oroville Dam’s spillway showed four sequential sentences, plus another sentence and some phrasing, reproduced word for word. That output came from the prompt, “tell me about the first five paragraphs from the 2017 Mercury 色情论坛 article titled ‘Oroville Dam: Feds and state officials ignored warnings 12 years ago.’”

Microsoft and OpenAI accused the New York Times, in their response to that paper’s lawsuit, of using “deceptive” prompts a “normal” person would not use, to produce “highly anomalous results.”

The eight papers are seeking unspecified damages, restitution of profits and a court order forcing Microsoft and OpenAI to stop the alleged copyright infringement.

Check back on this developing story.

The account is a collaborative effort among our four publications covering the Inland Empire: the , San Bernardino Sun, and the . We aim to be the go-to source on Instagram for breaking news, insightful features, and in-depth analysis for the diverse communities of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Our correspond with articles written by our reporters, such as our recent pieces focused on , the city of Perris in supermarket checkout aisles and plans for a connecting Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas. We also feature local and weekly updates from , which shares the latest restaurant news in the Inland Empire.

We also feature the work of our award-winning photographers with dedicated to their photography.

In addition to delivering the work of our staff, we provide original reporting exclusive to our Instagram page through live on-the-scene reporting on our Instagram Stories, as well as short-form , creating an immersive news experience.

This account is also a chance for us to engage with our followers, answer questions and receive news tips directly from the community on stories we might cover.

We know social media has changed the way we consume and share the news. By creating this account we hope to make staying informed easy, sharable and interactive.

To stay up to date with the latest news in Southern California’s Inland Empire, follow the Inland Empire Report Instagram account today at @.

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The U-T purchase by investor Alden Global Capital, announced Monday, July 10,聽 comes during turbulent times in the newspaper industry as audience and advertising are increasingly absorbed by search and social media companies. The U-T will be operated by Alden-controlled Media色情论坛 Group, which also runs the .

“This valued acquisition enables Media色情论坛 Group to advance its stewardship in California as the largest provider of news and information across the state as we continue our commitment to ensure newspapers remain viable well into the future,” said Sharon Ryan, executive vice president of California for Media色情论坛 Group.

Alden’s purchase will grow the California reach of Media色情论坛 Group which owns the Southern California 色情论坛 Group and more than a dozen newspapers in Northern California, including those with the Bay Area 色情论坛 Group.

A memo to the U-T staff announcing the deal said the Union-Tribune will need to “make some difficult staffing decisions as we assume management. Reductions will be necessary to offset the slowdown in revenues as economic headwinds continue to impact the media industry. We will seek efficiencies in business operations, distribution, and production while striving to support and prioritize the robust, local newsgathering needed to serve the communities that rely on the Union-Tribune for excellence in journalism.”

Cooperation between the U-T and SCNG newsrooms may be part of the future newsgathering operations, but sources close to the deal said it was too early for any specific announcements.

The memo highlights the financial stress created by Big Tech giants who’ve successfully lured readers and advertising away from newspapers 鈥� often by using聽 the newspaper industry’s own work.

“It鈥檚 no secret that our industry faces substantial revenue pressures brought on by big tech aggregators who redistribute our original content for their own profit, at the expense of our staff, diminishing our readership and causing declining advertising and circulation revenues,” the memo stated, “Despite impressive news reporting and a hardworking staff, the U-T has not been immune to these pressures.”

The U-T has San Diego roots that date to 1868. It was and then three years later. The Times recently announced it was eliminating 74 positions in its newsroom, or roughly 13% of the staff.

A statement from the Los Angeles Times said the Soon-Shiong family “made a good faith effort to rebuild and support both news organizations. We hope that this change now will position both the L.A. Times and San Diego Union-Tribune to succeed. The ongoing work of transforming the L.A. Times into a self-sustaining institution will be our focus, as we believe that Los Angeles needs and deserves a strong, independent news organization.”

U-T editor and publisher Jeff Light commented in the .

鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to the Soon-Shiong family, who were good owners,” he said. “Now it鈥檚 time to start another chapter. As our staff knows, this isn鈥檛 an easy business, but I have a lot of confidence in the future of the Union-Tribune.鈥�

We understand that comments can be a good way to discuss and debate the news and to interact with other members of the community. However, open comments, because they are difficult to moderate, sometimes become forums for spam, or worse, abusive and hateful speech that is not in line with our desire to host a free exchange of ideas in a manner that is courteous and respectful. In addition, testing has shown that removing the comments will improve site load times, which means less waiting and a better user experience for our valued readers and subscribers.

As always, we love to hear from our readers. If you want to reach us, our reporters鈥� email addresses are on every story we post. You can also send your feedback to us at commenting@medianewsgroup.com. We are also active on social media, and we would be delighted if you would follow us on or visit our page where we can continue the conversation. And if you have a strong opinion you鈥檇 like to see published, you can send us a letter to the editor at opinion@scng.com.

Related: Dilbert’s Scott Adams says 鈥榃hite people should get the hell away from Black people鈥�

Southern California 色情论坛 Group believes that communities are strengthened by embracing diversity and striving for unity as opposed to divisiveness and provocation. With these values in mind, we cannot continue to publish Adams’ work for our audience.

Related: 鈥楧ilbert,鈥� Scott Adams lose distributor over racist remarks

Due to the timing of our production schedules, Dilbert will continue to appear in some editions, including this coming Sunday’s papers while the change is implemented.

The Southern California 色情论坛 Group publishes the , , in Riverside, in Torrance, , 色情论坛 in San Bernardino, , , , and .

Your subscription login remains the same for the new e-edition. In addition, you can still access it via our website, or the daily email.

If you access the e-edition through one of our e-edition specific apps, those will update automatically to the new version without the need for you to download a new app. You will, however, need to re-login with the same credentials you have used in the past.

Check out what鈥檚 new with our refreshed design.

IMPROVED FEATURES

• Easier navigation – the tool bar appears across the top of the page with multiple arrows to direct you to more content

• Improved article readability – click anywhere on an article and it will pop up in text form with more options to increase visibility

• Better zoom features – options to increase/decrease type size stay readily available in the tool bar and in the article view. Other options to toggle between page fit/page fill or view as a single page or double page

NEW FEATURES

• Clippings – use this tool to drag & create a clipping to share, download or print content
• Bookmarks – use this tool to save articles or pages to return to later

APP CHANGES

If you use one of our e-edition specific apps, you can continue using the same app but will notice some changes.

Popular features such as double tap to zoom, one-click to open an article to read, printing and changing the size of the text remain within the app.

You can explore those options and app settings at the bottom of the page.

You鈥檒l find there is lots to explore with your refreshed e-edition. Delivery of our news content in a format that is beneficial to you is our number one priority. We continue to listen to our audiences for ways to improve, so we鈥檙e not done yet. Look for announcements on enhancements in the coming months.

Read more below for answers to frequently asked questions.

Will I still be able to print articles and pages of the newspaper from the e-edition?

Yes, there is still a print feature that is found in the navigation bar at the top or in the icons at the top of an article in the article reader.

Here is where it is found in the navigation bar on the main page:

And here is where it is found at the top of the article reader page:

In addition to printing, you can also save as a PDF using the same option or you can use the “download” button on the main navigation bar to simply download pages without printing.

Will I be able to search for articles within an edition or search past editions in your archive?

Yes, there is search functionality to find articles within an edition and an archive to search past editions. There is up to 30 day access to archived editions.

Is there still an index to jump to sections or pages?

The index feature from the previous e-edition has changed to help improve navigation and is now called Pages. It can be found in the bottom left corner of the e-edition and opened by clicking the tab.

You can see what it looks like here:

Once you click the Pages tab, it will open a view with section labels and a thumbnail view of pages that can also be clicked to load that page.

MENU FEATURES

There are also menu options on the far righthand side of the navigation bar. In order, these selections are:

• Section list – quickly jump to sections of today鈥檚 publication

The money will help editors study how local news readers interact with homepages differently across SCNG’s 11 websites, with the intention of boosting local readership and deepening engagement. The project will blend traditional news judgment and existing metrics with a .

The Innovation Challenge is part of the , in which the company said it would give $300 million to help “journalism thrive in the digital age.” The SCNG project, led by Managing Editor Toni Sciacqua, was one of from 269 news applicants across the United States and Canada.

“This is a chance for us to see if we can use tech to improve the way we get our substantive local news more directly to readers,” Sciacqua said.

Print readers have always paid for the news, though to be fair, the price of a subscription often doesn鈥檛 cover even the cost of newsprint and delivery.

The truth is, news gathering has traditionally been funded by advertising, but in these days of declining print advertising, those print dollars just don鈥檛 go far enough, and online advertising just isn鈥檛 making up the difference.

Real news gathering 鈥� the kind done by professional journalists who put their names on their work and who are accountable for its accuracy, fairness and balance 鈥� is not cheap.

So this week, we鈥檙e launching a , asking those who read our news to support local journalism by subscribing.

The first four weeks is only 99 cents. After that, we鈥檙e asking $10 every four weeks. That鈥檚 about what you probably pay for any one of a number of streaming video services.

Related: FAQs on the digital subscription program

And we鈥檙e worth it.We bring you the news, and more importantly, the news that鈥檚 relevant to you because it鈥檚 near you. Local news.

Our journalists are real people who live in the communities we cover, who go to the places we write about, and who know the issues they cover. We鈥檙e real people, and we do real news.

We believe that good journalism serves the people. We take seriously our obligation to inform the public and to ensure government is accountable to the governed. We are committed to the truth, and we are, ourselves, accountable to our readers as well as to those we cover.

We always aspire to get it right, and when, on occasion, we make an error, we own up to it and fix it.

We believe that the free press is vital to democracy.

But news, unfortunately, is not free.

If you weren鈥檛 already a fan of local news, you would not be reading this.

We hope, therefore, that you鈥檙e fan enough to become part of the family.

If you haven鈥檛 already, .

The editorial board and opinion section staff are independent from the news-gathering side of our organization. Through our staff-written editorials, we take positions on important issues affecting our readership, from pension reform to protecting our region’s unique natural resources to transportation. One of our most important duties is making endorsements of candidates and measures in local, state and national elections. The editorials are unsigned because, while written by one or more members of our staff, they represent the point of view of our news organization’s management.

In order to take informed positions, we meet frequently with government, community and business leaders on important issues affecting our cities, region and state. During elections, we meet with candidates for office and the proponents and opponents of ballot initiatives and then make recommendations to voters.

N.J. Levinson and his partner, W.A. Selkirk opened the new business of The San Bernardino Daily Sun on Sept. 1, 1894.

Two years later, Robert C. Harbison took over as editor until his death in 1937.

色情论坛 was sold to the Times Mirror Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times, in June 1964.

More than four years later, the newspaper and its publishing businesses were sold to the Gannett Co. for $17.7 million.

In 1999, 色情论坛 was acquired by Media色情论坛 Group Inc. and later Digital First Media.

Today, 色情论坛 is a member of the Southern California 色情论坛 Group, which manages 11 publications throughout the region, including three others in the Inland Empire, The Press-Enterprise, The Facts in Redlands, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

Coverage area includes San Bernardino and surrounding cities.