[VanTheBrand]

The part where they go out of the way to call the lawsuit baseless is spin though, and mixing that with this messaging does exactly that, presents a mixed message. The NYT lawsuit is objectively not baseless. OpenAI did train on the Times and chat gpt does output information from that training. That’s the basis of the lawsuit. NYT may lose, this could end up being considered fair use, it might ultimately be a flimsy basis for a lawsuit, but to say it’s baseless (and with nothing to back that up) is spin and makes this message less reassuring.

[tptacek]

No, it's not. It's absolutely standard corporate communications. If they're fighting the lawsuit, that is essentially the only thing they can say about it. Ford Motor Company would say the same thing (well, they'd probably say "meritless and frivolous").

[bee_rider]

Standard corporate spin, then?

[bunderbunder]

No, this isn't even close to spin, it's just a standard part of defending your case. In the US tort system you need to be constantly publicly saying you did nothing wrong. Any wavering on that point could be used against you in court.

[jmull]

This is a funny thread. You say "No" but then restate the point with slightly different words. As if anything a company says publicly about ongoing litigation isn't spin.

[bunderbunder]

I suppose it's down to how you define "spin". Personally I'm in favor of a definition of the term that doesn't excessively dilute it.

[bee_rider]

Can you share your definition? This is actually quite puzzling because as far as I know “spin” has always been associated with presenting things in a way that benefits you. Like, decades ago, they could have the show “Bill O’Rilley’s No Spin Zone” and everybody knew the premise was that they argue against guests who were trying to tell a “massaged” version of the story, and that they’d go for some actual truth (fwiw I thought the whole show was full of crap, but the name was not confusing or ambiguous).

I’m not aware of any definition of “spin” where being conventional is a defense against that accusation. Actually, that was the (imagined) value-add of the show, that conventional corporate and political messaging is heavily spun.

[tptacek]

No? "Spin" implies there was something else they could possibly say.

[justacrow]

They could choose to not say it

[ethbr1]

Indeed. Taken to its conclusion, this thread suggests that corporations are justified in saying whatever they want in order to further their own ends.

Including lies.

I'd like to aim a little higher, maybe towards expecting correspondence with reality?

IOW, yes, there is no law that OpenAi can't try to spin this. But it's still a shitty, non-factually-based choice to make.

[mmooss]

I haven't heard that interpretation; I might call it spin of spin.

[mrgoldenbrown]

If you're being held at gunpoint and forced to lie, your words are still a lie. Whether you were forced or not is a separate dimension.

[bee_rider]

That is unrelated to what the expression means.

[adamsb6]

I’m typing these words from a brain that has absorbed copyrighted works.