Microsoft employees warned internally that the company's approach to artificial intelligence was creating a "doom loop" that could undercut the web economy and negatively impact other industries, according to documents disclosed in The New York Times' lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI.
The revelation came as several top AI executives and engineers have issued public warnings about the rapidly advancing technology.
Here's what to know
According to an Instagram post from Futurism, internal documents show that Microsoft executives have long recognized a crucial threat to their AI business model: Even as AI benefits from human-generated creative work, from graphic designers to journalists, it is undercutting those professions' economic viability.
One internal Microsoft document stated the problem plainly: "Our AI content strategy has started a 'doom loop' that will hurt the performance of our models and the entire web at the same time." The same document added that it was "highly unusual" for an end product to threaten the "economic foundations" of the suppliers it depends on, but such was the case with the company's AI models.
Futurism pointed out that these "doom loops" now appear across many industries, from journalism to music to filmmaking.
"The closer you look, the more you see doom loops everywhere," the Futurism post said.
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More background
What publishers are facing offers a clear example of how these doom loops work in practice. As chatbots like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini increasingly deliver direct summaries of news items, fewer people need to click through to the original articles, cutting into publisher traffic and revenue.
This marks a significant departure from the old web model, in which journalists counted on search engines and platforms to direct readers to their sites, helping those publishers generate the revenue necessary to fund future reporting.
What's being done?
As the Times lawsuit shows, publishers are using the legal system to hold AI companies accountable. The suit against Microsoft and OpenAI is not just a dispute over how AI systems use published material; it also brings internal documents and communications into the public view, pushing internal discussions into the open.
These records show what company leaders knew about the business consequences of AI-generated answers replacing visits to original publishers. Internal language such as "doom loop" could shape how courts, publishers, and tech companies approach responsibility and compensation. The disclosures also fuel a wider backlash against AI's effect on work and media.
Where can I learn more?
Each of these stories examines a different aspect of how AI systems use and reshape human-made content online. They cover AI search results, copyright fights, creator compensation, public backlash over resources and jobs, and doubts about AI spending.
• Google users say AI-generated search results are making the web feel hollow and unreliable.
• Copyright complaints against OpenAI and Microsoft threaten to upend the economics of U.S. AI.
• Creative professionals warn the last chance to file AI copyright claims may be closing.
• Across the tech sector, backlash is growing as AI strains jobs, water, and electricity.
• Goldman Sachs analysts are questioning whether big tech's AI spending can justify its staggering cost.
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