A federal judge in Manhattan has been asked by The New York Times, the Daily News, and other news publishers to sanction OpenAI, alleging the company obstructed discovery by withholding or destroying evidence relevant to their copyright cases. According to an Associated Press report, the publishers’ filing says a recent deposition of an OpenAI employee contradicted earlier representations about the company’s ability to search its training datasets and ChatGPT logs. The publishers accuse OpenAI of choosing obstruction rather than releasing material that could help determine whether its systems reproduced copyrighted journalism. Steven Lieberman, an attorney representing the Daily News and seven affiliated newspapers, said OpenAI had made misrepresentations for two years about its ability to search for copyrighted material in its datasets and logs. The requested relief includes reimbursement of legal fees spent pursuing evidence that the publishers say was improperly withheld. OpenAI has rejected the publishers’ account; spokesperson Drew Pusateri called the allegations “blatantly false” and said The New York Times was attempting to invade the privacy of users. The company said it would continue defending its users’ privacy and fair use principles. The court must now decide whether OpenAI’s conduct during discovery warrants sanctions.