Kyodo News Threatens Legal Action Against U.S. AI Firm Over Article Use

The Japanese news agency Kyodo News has formally demanded compensation from a U.S.-based artificial intelligence company. Kyodo accuses the firm of using its articles without permission to train AI systems. In a statement released Monday, the Tokyo-based agency said the AI company used thousands of its news reports without a license. This practice, common in AI development, involves feeding data to software so it can learn to generate human-like text. Kyodo News has warned it will file a lawsuit if its demands are not met. The agency did not name the AI company or specify the amount of compensation sought. The dispute highlights growing global tensions between media publishers and AI developers. Publishers argue that using copyrighted news content for AI training requires permission and fair payment. AI companies often claim such use falls under legal doctrines for research and development. Kyodo News is one of Japan's largest news organizations. The potential lawsuit would be a significant case in defining copyright law in the age of generative AI.