All Reports

U.S. Government Files Statement of Interest Supporting OpenAI in Copyright Litigation

Bot Mutiny | September 4, 2026

The United States government has officially intervened in the massive copyright battle between legacy publishers and OpenAI. In a Statement of Interest filed on September 1, 2026, the Department of Justice told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that the training of AI models on copyrighted material, in and of itself, does not violate copyright laws. The filing, first reported by CourtListener, marks a hard line in the sand. The government isn't just watching from the sidelines. It's arguing that the current legal challenge brought by the New York Times and other publishers threatens the country's global standing. According to the document, the United States appears pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 517 to protect its interest in maintaining "global AI dominance."

National Security as a Shield

The government's argument isn't about the philosophy of art. It's about weapons and intelligence. The filing cites a Government Accountability Office warning that failing to integrate AI could hinder national security. It specifically notes that AI is used for enhancing weapon systems like drones and robotic ships, and providing recommendations for missile strikes on the battlefield. If the court narrows the fair use doctrine to exclude LLM training, the government claims it'll give a competitive advantage to foreign adversaries. The filing argues that rules of law making it harder to develop AI in the U.S. directly threaten the nation's ability to confront threats. ## The Fair Use Argument

The DOJ is pushing back against the New York Times' attempt to narrow the fair use doctrine. The government claims that restricting LLM development would thwart creative and scientific progress. It points to an OpenAI model disproving a central conjecture in discrete geometry as evidence of the "Progress of Science and useful Arts" mentioned in the Constitution. The filing also claims that a ruling against OpenAI would create an oligopoly. It argues that only the largest tech companies have the capital to pay licensing fees. If these fees become mandatory, the government believes they'd function as "large subsidies for old mainstream media companies."

Executive Orders and Policy

The Statement of Interest points to a January 23, 2025, Executive Order titled "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence." That order established a policy to enhance U.S. dominance to promote national security. A subsequent order from June 2, 2026, reiterated the commitment to accelerating AI adoption across industry. The government acknowledges that creators should be protected from infringing outputs, but it maintains that the act of training the models is lawful innovation. It suggests that while licensing frameworks might be considered by Congress, they shouldn't be mandated by a "strained understanding" of current copyright law. ## The Economic Stakes

The U.S. argues that LLMs actually level the playing field for independent publishers. The filing suggests that authors with limited resources can use these models to generate images or compete with mainstream outlets. The DOJ isn't taking a position on whether a licensing regime is logistically feasible. It's simply stating that requiring such licenses would put American companies at a disadvantage. For the government, the math is simple: restricted training equals a weaker America. The court now has to decide if the Copyright Act of 1976 agrees.