MARSEILLE, France (AFP) — The New York Times publisher on Monday slammed artificial intelligence companies for “brazen theft of intellectual property”, warning they threaten the future of journalism during a speech at the World News Media Congress in the French city of Marseille.

AI companies’ “hijacking of the public square is made possible by the original sin that animates their AI products — a brazen theft of intellectual property that has occurred at an unprecedented scale”, said A G Sulzberger, according to his published remarks.

“Tech giants strip-mine news websites without permission or compensation,” he said, adding that the news sector “has been too quiet, too passive, and too fragmented in the face of abuses by the companies leading the AI revolution”.

Sulzberger, whose company is suing OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Microsoft over the use of copyrighted work, delivered an indictment against AI companies before news executives gathered for the 77th WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress, in a speech that was met with loud applause.

Sulzberger said AI companies are “consolidating their outsize control over our data and our attention” but are “failing to embrace a core responsibility that comes with this power — to ensure the public has access to trustworthy news and information”.

“I fear we are careening toward a future with fewer and fewer journalists to do the expensive, difficult work of original reporting,” he said.

The congress, which runs until Wednesday, is organised in partnership with CMA Media, the media arm of shipping giant CMA CGM.

It takes place amid steep concern over the media outlets’ economic model, under pressure from artificial intelligence and facing ever-intensifying competition from social networks.