# Unredacted Times filing quotes Microsoft scientist calling AI scraping historic theft

_Published Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 8:10 PM EDT · AI, Policy, Products · Latest · Tier 1 — Major_

![Unredacted Times filing quotes Microsoft scientist calling AI scraping historic theft — Primary](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1778706504.jpg?resize=1200,783)

Newly unredacted material in The New York Times copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft quotes Microsoft director of Applied Science Brent Hecht calling the firms' training-data practices "the largest theft of labor in human history." The Times brief also cites ChatGPT head Nick Turley describing publisher-facing chatbots as an "existential threat" that is "largely substitutive," and Microsoft data showing Copilot cut Times click-through rates by as much as 93% versus Bing search.

The filing alleges OpenAI mid-training datasets contained more than 91,692 copies of works from the Times, Daily News, and Center for Investigative Reporting, and that staff discussed circumventing paywalls. Underlying exhibits remain sealed, quotes appear without original context, and neither company commented.

## Sources

- [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/17/microsoft-exec-called-ai-scraping-the-largest-theft-of-labor-in-human-history-new-unredacted-filings-reveal/)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/93UpKthHWXMIYKUqLMmCXF
Published: 2026-09-18T00:10:19.545Z
Story chronology: 2026-09-17T19:46:08.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-09-18T09:46:49.624Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)