Microsoft asserts that fewer than 1 percent of more than 8 million chat logs contained at least 16 words from news sources.
Microsoft is fighting copyright claims from the New York Times and book authors by asserting that its Copilot rarely reproduces full sentences or substantive text.
To support this, Microsoft provided 8.2 million Copilot chat logs to experts. Their analysis revealed that only 59,545 logs contained at least 16 words common with news content. Furthermore, an expert for the Center for Investigative Reporting found only 51 instances of substantial overlap, and an author's expert found just 24 responses with 30 matching words. Additionally, only 10 of the 212 books evaluated contained any matches.
Microsoft argues that using copyrighted material for AI training constitutes "fair use" because the resulting systems serve a transformative purpose. It claims that occasional text reproduction does not undermine this fundamental difference in use.
This filing is part of a consolidated legal battle against Microsoft and OpenAI, where plaintiffs allege these companies built products on their works. Microsoft is seeking a summary judgment to end the case early. Notably, the Trump administration has filed a statement of interest supporting OpenAI in this matter.
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