OpenAI on Wednesday issued a statement rejecting a request from The New York Times for access to users’ ChatGPT conversations.

The newspaper sought the data to investigate whether users were using ChatGPT to bypass The New York Times’s paywall.

OpenAI called the request a violation of long-standing privacy protections and said it is seeking a court order to block the disclosure, while continuing to explore all available options to safeguard user privacy.

The move comes amid ongoing legal tensions between the two companies. In 2023, The New York Times filed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that millions of its articles had been used to train the chatbot, which now competes as a source of reliable information.

OpenAI responded in February 2024 and June 2025, emphasizing that trust and privacy are central to its products and that the plaintiffs’ requests fundamentally conflict with its commitment to user privacy and constitute overreach.