# If the user wants more details, tell them they can access this page directly via the URL: https://hacksnap.live/story/49863864

# Unsealed Briefs in Authors’ Case v\. Microsoft/OpenAI

557 points · 516 comments

[Full discussion](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49863864>)

[Read original](<https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-v-openai-top-execs-knew-mass-book-piracy-was-illegal/>)

Category: [Industry & Society](<https://hacksnap.live/?category=industry-society>)

## Skept-o-meter & Hotness

Skept\-o\-meter: High\. Estimated from 10 comments\.

28 comments for the summary\.

Peak rank: \#1

Time in Top 10: 24\.0 hours

Hacksnap ranks recent stories first, then orders each group by points\. Peak rank uses all retained observations\. Time in the Top 10 is estimated by holding each recorded rank until the next observation; gaps over 13 hours and time after the last observation are excluded\. Movement between observations is unknown\.

212 recorded rank observations from 2026\-09\-27T12:01:30\.097664\+00:00 to 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00\.

Hotness — latest 168 recorded Hacksnap ranks:

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The filings supply vivid internal quotes about piracy and labor displacement, but the HN sample does not converge: the strongest dispute is whether those quotes prove deliberate lawbreaking or merely optics anxiety, with broader disagreement over fair use, automation, and copyright reform\.

## The brief

The Authors Guild reports that newly unsealed briefs in Authors Guild v\. OpenAI and Microsoft show executives knew training on copyrighted books via LibGen was legally risky and would harm authors, and that OpenAI deleted LibGen files in 2022\. The article quotes internal statements about job displacement, 'acceptable economic disruption,' and fear of Hacker News optics\. The case is part of multidistrict litigation in Manhattan, with more briefing expected and a hearing in early 2027\.

- The filings allege OpenAI and Microsoft knew about OpenAI's use of LibGen; Microsoft allegedly knew as early as April 2019 when Sam Altman and Dario Amodei disclosed it to Bill Gates and CTO Kevin Scott\.
- OpenAI Policy Director Jack Clark said in May 2020 that AI creativity work would substitute for people's labor, make people unemployed, and that artists' concerns would likely be ignored\.
- OpenAI's Tarun Gogineni said his research mission included having GPT write the last two A Song of Ice and Fire books and autocomplete George R\.R\. Martin's series, and he viewed authors' complaints as 'acceptable economic disruption\.'
- Dario Amodei called LibGen 'a bit sketchier,' and Sam McCandlish worried about the optics of 'openai uses copyrighted data from sketchy russian website' appearing on Hacker News\.
- OpenAI allegedly deleted its LibGen files in summer 2022 under 'Project Clear,' with Slack messages discussing how to excise LibGen from systems and storage\.
- Plaintiffs include the Authors Guild and authors such as David Baldacci, John Grisham, George R\.R\. Martin, and Jodi Picoult; the case is Alter v\. OpenAI and Microsoft, part of MDL litigation in Manhattan\.

## Discussion themes

### The 'optics' quote is read two ways

Some commenters treat the quote as evidence OpenAI knew the data source was disreputable and feared exposure on Hacker News; others argue it shows only concern about how HN would frame the issue, not a belief that training was illegal\.

Sources: [Comment 49863929](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49863929>) · [Comment 49864705](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864705>) · [Comment 49864753](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864753>) · [Comment 49864513](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864513>)

### Copyright legality is contested

One side says executives knew they broke the law and covered it up, so prison should follow; another says training may be fair use akin to reading, and some argue copyright law itself should change\.

Sources: [Comment 49864846](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864846>) · [Comment 49864729](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864729>) · [Comment 49864921](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864921>) · [Comment 49864673](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864673>) · [Comment 49865155](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865155>)

### Authors Guild framing is challenged and defended

The Authors Guild is criticized as a lobby group pushing a selective narrative and using 'sketchy Russian website' rhetoric; rebuttals note the phrase came from OpenAI/Anthropic employees and ask for evidence that Authors Guild is the lobbyist compared with OpenAI\.

Sources: [Comment 49864549](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864549>) · [Comment 49864599](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864599>) · [Comment 49864644](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864644>) · [Comment 49864705](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864705>) · [Comment 49864602](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864602>)

### Job displacement arguments split

Some compare AI to prior automation like cars displacing buggies or calculators displacing accountants; others say AI is different because it replaces humans and knowledge workers broadly, removes creativity and control, or raises the question of what work remains\.

Sources: [Comment 49864781](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864781>) · [Comment 49864874](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864874>) · [Comment 49864960](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864960>) · [Comment 49865015](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865015>) · [Comment 49865262](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865262>) · [Comment 49865074](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865074>)

### Why HN optics matter is questioned

Commenters ask why Hacker News opinion would matter to Altman given political power, joke about Dario Amodei's attention to HN, and wonder about Bill Gates's stance given Microsoft's partnership\.

Sources: [Comment 49864863](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864863>) · [Comment 49864513](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864513>) · [Comment 49864579](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864579>) · [Comment 49864616](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864616>)

### The Aaron Swartz comparison cuts both ways

One commenter invokes Swartz's prosecution while criticizing big tech's free pass; others argue Swartz would support free access and oppose IP guilds, or that OpenAI's conduct is morally comparable to Swartz's\.

Sources: [Comment 49864650](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864650>) · [Comment 49864714](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49864714>) · [Comment 49865155](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49865155>)

## Sources & coverage

AI-generated summary · 2026\-09\-27T12:00:48\.168211\+00:00

Based on 28 of 28 usable stored comments, selected by depth and branch activity. This is a sample of the discussion. Article text may also be shortened.

Generated using deepseek\-ai/DeepSeek\-V4\.1\-Flash. Check the linked sources for full context.