TechMicrosoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history”

Unsealed documents in a copyright lawsuit led by The New York Times show Microsoft applied science director Brent Hecht repeatedly warned that scraping news for AI training was “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” possibly the “largest theft of labor in human history.” He also said widespread scraping made a “complete mockery” of fair use.

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AArs Technica★★★☆☆2026-09-17 20:10Original