Center for Investigative Reporting Files Brief in xAI’s Lawsuit Against State of California
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) recently filed an amicus brief in a federal lawsuit, in the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals between xAI and the State of California, that seeks to exempt AI companies from disclosing the sources used to train their systems, alongside other information about the data.
The case is of great concern to the nonprofit news organization, which produces Mother Jones, Reveal, and More To The Story, because knowledge about AI’s data is increasingly important to the public as AI hallucinations are security risks, transparency laws like this one help reporters do their job, and data included in AI training infringes on newsrooms’ data.
xAI contends that the Generative AI Training Data Transparency Act violates the company’s First Amendment rights and its trade secrets, even though leading AI competitors, including Anthropic and OpenAI, are complying with the law. The law requires developers of public-facing generative AI systems to publish their sources, data types, intellectual property status, personal information, processing, and synthetic data.
“This lawsuit would ensure the public could receive information about the AI products they use and help them decide for themselves if AI tools can be trusted,” said Victoria Baranetsky, CIR’s general counsel. “We hope this case sets a precedent that it is constitutional to require all kinds of companies to disclose factual information, to reporters and the public, where those laws are well-tailored and valuable to the public.” Baranetsky continued, “This data, in particular, is especially important in the face of new AI technologies that are known for hallucinations, privacy risks, and alleged copyright infringement.”
The case was filed by xAI in the US District Court on December 29, 2025, and eventually appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Other organizations that have filed amicus briefs against the company’s lawsuit include the Center for AI and Digital Policy; the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University; Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology; and the Science, Health, and Information Clinic at the New York University School of Law.
CIR sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2024 for using the news organization’s content without permission or offering compensation. Between Mother Jones and Reveal, the outlets have registered their copyright for 50 years, and their unique investigative reporting focuses on a broad range of communities. The lawsuit also focuses on how artificial intelligence’s written summaries of articles threaten publishers.
