Doom Loop: OpenAI and Microsoft Admit LLMs Is Destroying the Web and Built on Theft

2026-09-18 | Source: Mastodon | Original article

OpenAI and Microsoft acknowledge that their large language models are eroding the web and rely on appropriated content.

Executives at Microsoft and OpenAI have openly acknowledged what critics have long warned: the large‑language models (LLMs) powering ChatGPT, Bing and other generative‑AI services are built on what a senior Microsoft official described as “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions” and “the largest theft of labor in human history.” The admission appears in an unredacted filing in the New York Times’ copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, where internal emails and a Microsoft document detail a “doom loop” that siphons content from human creators, trains LLMs on that material and then redirects traffic back to the models, starving the original sites of clicks and revenue. The revelation matters because it links the technical debate over data‑scraping to concrete commercial harm. The filing notes that Bing’s traffic to affected news outlets fell by more than 90 %, a plunge that threatens the financial viability of many publishers. By framing the training process as systematic theft, the executives have effectively admitted liability for copyright infringement, raising the stakes of the lawsuit and potentially setting a precedent for other content‑owners. The next weeks will focus on how the court interprets the “doom loop” claim and whether it forces OpenAI and Microsoft to alter their data‑collection practices. Regulators in the EU and the United States are already scrutinising AI‑driven content use, and the case could accelerate legislative moves to mandate licensing or opt‑out mechanisms. Industry players are likely to watch for any settlement terms that impose new compliance burdens, while publishers may push for collective bargaining arrangements to protect their work from further exploitation.

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