OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web

<figure> <img alt="Skull with circuitboard graphic overlayed." data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/STKS534_AI_DOOMSDAY2_B.png?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Recently <a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/997312/a-microsoft-exec-called-ai-scraping-theft-of-unprecedented-proportions">unsealed</a> court documents in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/technology/openai-microsoft-new-york-times-lawsuit.html"><em>New York Times</em>' case against OpenAI and Microsoft</a> are pretty damning. The companies' own documentation warned that it was starting a "doom loop" that would damage the web, characterized its scraping of data to train its models as the "largest theft of labor in human history," and that it made a "complete mockery of the idea of fair use."</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Many of the most eye-catching quotes from the document come from Microsoft's Director of Applied Science, Brent Hecht. Though, the company has tried to distance itself from Hecht's assertions. Microsoft spokesperson Alex Haurek told The Verge that "These comments ref …</p> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/997633/openai-microsoft-chatgpt-ai-new-york-times-doom-loop-theft-google-zero">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>