OpenAI Must Turn Over Millions of Chat Logs in Copyright Litigation, NY Federal Judge Rules

By Benjamin Joyner for Law.com: Corporate Counsel
Thursday, January 8, 2026

The discovery dispute in The New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI could carry broader implications for artificial intelligence developers facing litigation.

In a discovery dispute that could carry broader implications for artificial intelligence developers facing litigation, a federal judge has rejected OpenAI's challenge to an order requiring the company to turn.

Dr Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at ImmuniWeb, commented: "For OpenAI, this decision is certainly a legal debacle, which will inspire other plaintiffs in similar cases to do the same to prevail in courts or to get much better settlements from AI companies."

"This case is also a telling reminder that – regardless your privacy settings – your interactions with AI chatbots and other systems may, one day, be produced in court. Architecture of modern LLMs and their underlying technology stack are very complex, so even if some user-facing systems are specifically configured to delete chat logs and history, some others may inevitably preserve them in one form or another. In some cases, produced evidence may trigger investigations and even criminal prosecution of AI users." Read Full Article

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