Microsoft executive called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history”

Details

Internal emails between Microsoft and OpenAI contain warnings that practices for collecting online content to train artificial intelligence models may have destructive consequences for journalism. In those emails, a Microsoft executive described AI scraping as the “largest theft of labor in human history.”

The correspondence highlights concerns about a possible “doom loop,” where automated extraction of content reduces the revenues and capacities of news organizations, which in turn diminishes the quantity and quality of journalistic material available for training. This creates a potential vicious cycle that could threaten the sustainability of news sources.

The emails note that such a dynamic could lead to significant changes in how news content is produced and distributed. However, the disclosed messages do not include further details on specific measures taken by the companies, nor do they identify individuals, dates, or particular instances of scraping.

From the available correspondence it is clear that the issue of using journalists’ work to train AI is a subject of internal debate and concern, but the information is limited to those expressed worries and does not provide a comprehensive view of potential outcomes or responses.

These disclosures highlight the tension between the development of large language models and the viability of traditional media, underscoring the need for further dialogue and possible regulation. The available material, however, does not offer sufficient grounds to predict concrete next steps by the involved companies.

At present, the emails and quoted language mainly indicate internal attitudes and fears without supplying a full set of facts about the scale or specific practices of scraping.