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Brent Hecht

Computer scientist working on the societal effects of AI and web systems, and Director of Applied Science at Microsoft.

Known aliases

  • Dr Brent Hecht
  • Dr. Brent Hecht
  • Hecht

Current stories

investConfirmed4 publishers

A single Times call-spread buyer risks $407,000 on an October copyright ruling

Unsealed internal comments from Microsoft and OpenAI executives speak to the substitution question that fair use turns on. The visible market response is one options trade worth about $407,000 in premium, expiring in October.

Perspective Coverage

4 publishers
Builder
Builder 23%
Operator
Operator 40%
Investor
Investor 37%

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+35
Incentives72
Confidence60
productOne report1 publisher

OpenAI and Microsoft records describe chatbots replacing visits to the sources they draw on

OpenAI's ChatGPT chief wrote that its products "are largely substitutive, period," in internal documents made public September 17 in the Times lawsuit. That helps publishers argue over AI search, where Fast Company says the money is, but the labs still set the price.

Publishers:fastcompany.com

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives60
Confidence50
buildOne report1 publisher

Unsealed NYT v. OpenAI brief quotes Microsoft and OpenAI insiders on scraping and paywalls

New York Times lawyers quote a 2023 Microsoft memo calling AI scraping 'the largest theft of labor in human history' in briefs a court unsealed September 17. For teams training on unlicensed data, the case puts dataset custody and internal email in the same record.

Publishers:dev.to

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives70
Confidence40
productConfirmed6 publishers

Microsoft measured a 93 percent click-through drop to nytimes.com from its own answer engine

A newly unredacted brief in the New York Times' case quotes a Microsoft director calling AI scraping the largest theft of labor in human history. The underlying exhibits are still sealed, so the quotes arrive without their original context.

Perspective Coverage

6 publishers
Builder
Builder 20%
Operator
Operator 44%
Investor
Investor 36%

Reality

Evidence60
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+30
Incentives72
Confidence64
buildConfirmed5 publishers

OpenAI's own executives call ChatGPT substitutive of the journalism it trained on

Discovery quotes unsealed on Thursday have Nick Turley, Greg Brockman and Satya Nadella describing the products as substitutes, while OpenAI and Microsoft have told a Manhattan court that their training does not replace journalism.

Perspective Coverage

5 publishers
Builder
Builder 33%
Operator
Operator 38%
Investor
Investor 29%

Reality

Evidence72
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives78
Confidence68
securityConfirmed3 publishers

Nadella testified that chatbots have "substituted" for publisher sites

The news publishers' partly unsealed summary judgment motion quotes Microsoft's CEO on substitution and on licensing paywalled training data. Microsoft says he was speaking to broad principles about how people find information, and that his words are not conclusions about copyright.

Publishers:404media.co news.bloomberglaw.com orlandosentinel.com

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 25%
Operator
Operator 32%
Investor
Investor 43%

Reality

Evidence64
Adoption40
Hype gap+30
Incentives80
Confidence62
productOne report1 publisher

Unsealed brief quotes Microsoft's applied science director calling AI training a 'theft of labor'

Redactions came off a 92-page plaintiffs' brief in the consolidated OpenAI copyright case on Thursday. Inside are internal Microsoft and OpenAI documents on substitution, memorised training data and collapsing publisher click-throughs.

Publishers:thenextweb.com

Reality

Evidence70
Adoption62
Hype gap+12
Incentives82
Confidence60