2026-09-18 / Signal #2
Microsoft exec called AI scraping “the largest theft of labor in human history
“Microsoft’s own scientist called training ChatGPT the biggest theft of labor in human history. Then they shipped it anyway.”
The Story
Newly unredacted court documents in the New York Times copyright case show Microsoft’s director of applied science privately calling the companies’ scraping of news “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions” and “the largest theft of labor in human history.” Internal memos also describe a “doom loop” that would destroy journalism while hurting the models themselves, plus details on paywall circumvention and stripping copyright notices. Executives at both Microsoft and OpenAI recognized the existential threat to publishers.
Why It Matters
The people building the models knew, in writing, that they were eating their own supply chain. Courtroom + old newsroom lore + the strange future of media as training data. Money, institutions, and internet culture colliding in one memo.
Evidence
Unsealed NYT lawsuit filings via TechCrunch, Washington Post, Ars Technica (Sept 17)
Sources
Daily scan: 2026-09-18