Ziff Davis Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Copyright Infringement

WILMINGTON, Del. — Ziff Davis, the publisher of major tech sites including Mashable and PCMag, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on April 24, 2025, accusing the artificial intelligence company of using its copyrighted material without permission. The suit was submitted in federal court in Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated.

According to the 62-page complaint, Ziff Davis claims OpenAI has “intentionally and relentlessly reproduced exact copies” and created derivatives of the publisher’s content. This alleged infringement includes using Ziff Davis articles to train OpenAI’s AI models, including the ChatGPT chatbot.

Ziff Davis is one of the largest publishers in the U.S., operating over 45 websites that attract approximately 292 million visitors each month. The company’s lawsuit highlights a growing trend among media organizations concerned about AI firms using their content without proper authorization.

The lawsuit states that Ziff Davis had previously instructed web crawlers not to scrape its data through a robots.txt file. Despite this, the publisher alleges that OpenAI disregarded these instructions and even removed copyright information from the content gathered.

Other media institutions, such as The New York Times and The Intercept, have also filed complaints against OpenAI for copyright violations. This collective action underscores rising tensions between traditional media and burgeoning AI technologies.

In its legal filings, Ziff Davis seeks a court order to halt the use of its material by OpenAI and calls for the deletion of any datasets or models that include its content. The case continues to unfold as both parties prepare for further legal action.