The Verge AIOct 30, 2026 17:00

Wikimedia urges courts to protect LLM training on copyrighted work but not verbatim regurgitation

The Wikimedia Foundation filed an amicus brief in the copyright lawsuits pitting publishers including The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, taking neither side. It argues that LLMs training on copyrighted material should be legally protected, while chatbots reproducing that material to users should not. The foundation warns that an overly broad or black-and-white ruling could either deprive Wikipedians of useful AI tools or endanger the open web.

AI Brief

It signals how a major open-knowledge steward wants courts to draw the line between lawful AI training and infringing output, a distinction that will shape model development and content licensing.

Wikipedia “W” and globe on a grey background.

The Wikimedia Foundation is staking out a middle ground in a group of landmark AI copyright cases, pushing courts to legally protect large language models (LLMs) training on copyrighted work - but not chatbots regurgitating that work to users. An overly black-and-white ruling, it says, could either deprive Wikipedians of useful AI-based tools or endanger the open web.

In an amicus brief filed Friday, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia weighed in on a set of lawsuits pitting publishers including The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, taking neither side. "Wikimedia is concerned that the parties' positions in this case push for overbroa …

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Wikimedia urges courts to protect LLM training on copyrighted work but not verbatim regurgitation

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