Five major news media companies in Canada filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, accusing it of frequently violating copyright and online usage terms.

This is the latest in a series of challenges faced by OpenAI, with its main supporter being Microsoft.

In a statement, Torstar, Postmedia, The Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stated that OpenAI has been obtaining a large amount of content from the media to develop its products without obtaining permission or compensating content owners.

"News reporting serves the public interest. Using other companies' news reports for one's own commercial gain, as OpenAI does, is illegal.

Earlier this month, billionaire entrepreneur Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI. He alleged that Microsoft and OpenAI were attempting to illegally monopolize the generative ai market, excluding competitors.