OpenAI refuses to share ChatGPT logs with New York TImes

Question

OpenAI recently lost a battle in court against The New York Times as part of their ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit. As a result, a federal judge has ordered the company to produce 20 million ChatGPT logs for lawyers of The New York Times to analyze as part of their investigations. However, OpenAI has openly opposed this ruling, arguing the forced productions of these logs is not justified by "common sense". 

A recent article from Business Insider also shared that OpenAI shared a public statement titles "Fighting the New York Times' invasion of user privacy". The company fails to acknowledge the recent loss against the New York Times in court. Finally, as a part of her decision, Magistrate Judge Ona Wang said OpenAI had failed to adequately protect the privacy of its consumers. 

Answer 1

The claim of this post is that OpenAI refuses to share ChatGPT user logs with the New York Times. After reviewing multiple sources, including coverage of the lawsuit between OpenAI and the New York Times, I can agree that this claim is mostly true. OpenAI has stated that it protects user privacy and does not voluntarily share chat logs, arguing that doing so would violate user trust and privacy policies. Reports explain that OpenAI resisted the request unless legally compelled, which supports the claim that the company refused to share logs under normal circumstances.

Answer 2

According ot my reserch this claim is true. OpenAI has published an entire webpage about the lawsuit between OpenAI and The Times. On this webpage, it is easily identifiable that OpenAI very strongly does not want to give any information out to the Times, but due to a court order, they were forced to hand over 20 million chats to the Times. Per a Business Insider article, the chief information security officer, Dane Stuckey  said “' Journalism has historically played a critical role in defending people's right to privacy throughout the world,' Stuckey wrote. 'However, this demand from the New York Times does not live up to that legacy, and we're asking the court to reject it.’” OpenAI lost the court battle and had to provide the requested information to The Times. However, to try to protect the identities of its users, OpenAI has said,  "The data we are making accessible to comply with this order has undergone a de-identification process intended to remove or mask PII and other private information.” 

The claim for this post is true. OpenAI was forced to provide chats to The Times due to a court order. 

Sources: 

https://openai.com/new-york-times/

https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-new-york-times-copyright-infringement-lawsuit-chatgpt-logs-private-2025-11?op=1