this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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US government sides with OpenAI on issue of training LLMs on copyrighted material: »it is critical for the United States to ‘retain global leadership in artificial intelligence.« (techcrunch.com)
submitted 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) by eicker@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] isleepinahammock@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 13 hours ago

The NY Times and Pearson, two of the most valuable US publishers, each have market caps of about $10 billion.

Let's say Pearson went after OpenAI. They devote an unlimited legal budget to the fight. OpenAI is hoping to IPO as a trillion dollar company. If Pearson went after OpenAI, rather than fight them in court, a deal could be reached first. If that didn't work, if a deal couldn't be reached, OpenAI could bypass the problem completely:

  1. Spend $5 billion to buy a controlling share of Pearson.
  2. Fire the entire leadership team and install OpenAI minions in their place.
  3. Once they control Pearson, sign a long-term licensing deal with OpenAI with very generous licensing terms and huge early cancellation fees.
  4. Sell the shares back on the market at a (likely slightly reduced) value.

OpenAI would likely have to spend some money on net. The value of Pearson stock would likely be a bit lower after effectively giving away the rights to their works as training data. If signing a durable rights contract the new owners can't escape isn't practical, buying the company and simply holding it indefinitely would also be an option.