Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and more than 200 local newspapers, has filed a federal copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the artificial intelligence company systematically scraped its journalism to train its models without permission or payment.

The lawsuit, filed this week, claims OpenAI copied vast quantities of Gannett’s reporting to build commercial products that now compete directly with the publisher’s own digital offerings. Gannett is seeking damages and an order restraining further use of its content.

The case adds to a growing wave of litigation between news publishers and AI developers. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 in a case that is still working through the courts, while several publishers have instead struck licensing deals with AI firms for access to their archives.

OpenAI has generally argued that training on publicly available text is protected by fair use doctrine, a position publishers dispute. Legal experts say the outcome of these cases could reshape the economics of both the news industry and the AI sector.

Gannett said the suit aims to protect the investment its newsrooms make in original reporting across the United States.