NVIDIA is acquiring Hugging Face for nearly $13 billion, doubling down on open source AI models and developer tools. Plus: the Trump administration files a brief backing OpenAI in its copyright fight with the New York Times, arguing that training AI on internet content is fair use.
NVIDIA has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, the online developer platform and open source AI model and dataset library, for nearly $13 billion. The deal, long rumored, became official Thursday. Ashley breaks down what it signals: NVIDIA committing to the software side of generative AI, not just chips, and promising to maintain Hugging Face's open standards. Her take: this is NVIDIA de-risking its business ahead of an eventual cooldown in chip demand, locking in relevance as the platform where developers discover and build models. The open question is whether "open standards" holds up in 18 months, or quietly becomes the on-ramp to NVIDIA's own ecosystem.
Then: the Justice Department has filed court papers backing OpenAI's argument that training AI models on internet content is fair use, the first time the federal government has weighed in directly on an AI copyright case, and it's siding against the New York Times in the paper's suit against OpenAI and Microsoft. The DOJ leans on two claims: that the public benefits of training outweigh the harm to publishers, and a national security argument that AI helps analysts process information faster. The Times argues OpenAI used billions of dollars of journalism without permission or payment, and Sarah Silverman and other publishers and authors have joined the suit. Ashley's take: a government brief in a private case isn't neutral, it's the administration picking a side, and the national security argument doesn't answer whether OpenAI paid for what it used.
AI news you should know about, in under 10 minutes.
In this episode: (00:04) This week's headlines: NVIDIA/Hugging Face and the OpenAI/NYT case (00:37) NVIDIA's $12.9B acquisition of Hugging Face (01:29) What the deal signals about NVIDIA's AI strategy (01:52) Ashley's take: NVIDIA de-risking its business (02:44) Trump administration backs OpenAI in the NYT copyright case (03:08) The DOJ's two-part argument (03:56) The New York Times' response and who else joined the suit (04:23) Ashley's take: fair use doesn't answer whether OpenAI paid for it (04:48) Wrap-up and where to follow the show
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Ashley Coffey (00:04)
Hi, and welcome back to AI News that you should know about for September 4th. I'm your host, Ashley Coffey. There's a lot of AI news out there, so we give you the weekly highlights very quickly. This week on the show, we'll be talking about NVIDIA's Hugging Face acquisition is a $12.9 billion bet on open source AI. And the Trump administration backs open AI and New York Times copyright case over a training of chatbots.
Ashley Coffey (00:30)
We'll be covering all of that today, but first here's a quick word from our sponsors.
Ashley Coffey (00:37)
Welcome back. NVIDIA's Hugging Face acquisition is a $12.9 billion bet on open source AI. This is coming from Wired. I'll link it in the show notes. That way you can read it if you would like. This long-rumored deal will give the chip giant access to and help it promote a huge repository of open source AI models and data sets. This is coming from Wired, which I'll link the article in the show notes.
Ashley Coffey (01:02)
This long rumored deal will give the chip giant access to and help it promote a huge repository of open source AI models and data sets. This is coming from Wired, which I'll link the article in the show notes. Nvidia has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, which makes online developer tools and maintains a massive library of open source data sets for nearly $13 billion. While the deal had been rumored for weeks, the companies made it official on Thursday morning.
Ashley Coffey (01:29)
The deal signals NVIDIA's seriousness about being steeped in the software side of generative AI developments as well as infrastructure. NVIDIA always already offers customers a suite of free, customizable, open weight AI models known as NemoTron. As part of its announcement, NVIDIA committed to maintaining Hugging Face's current open standards.
Ashley Coffey (01:52)
Suggesting that the chipmaker is
Ashley Coffey (01:53)
Positioning itself as an even greater resource for developers looking to access cutting-edge non-proprietary tools. So, my take on this: this is NVIDIA de-risking its own business. Chip demand won't grow forever, so owning a platform where developers discover and build models locks in relevance even after hardware margins cool off. The real question is whether maintaining open standards holds up in 18 months.
Ashley Coffey (02:19)
Or quietly becomes the on-ramp to NVIDIA's own ecosystem. Either way, if you're building on open source models, expect tighter NVIDIA integration to become the default, not the alternative. All right, we're gonna take a quick break. When we come back, we'll be talking about the Trump administration backs OpenAI and New York Times copyright case over training of chatbots.
Ashley Coffey (02:44)
Welcome back. Let's dive in. Trump administration backs OpenAI and New York Times copyright case over the training of chatbots. This is coming from the Boston Globe. The Justice Department filed court papers this week backing OpenAI's argument that training AI models on internet content is fair use. this is the first time the federal government has weighed in this directly.
Ashley Coffey (03:08)
On an AI copyright case, and it's siding against one of the country's biggest newsrooms. The DOJ argument leans on two big claims. First, that the creative possibilities and public benefits of training language learning models far outweigh any competitive harm to publishers, and second, a national security angle that AI models help analysts process information from sources like news articles.
Ashley Coffey (03:33)
And slowing that down could hurt the US economically and strategically. Officials wrote that ruling against open AI would thwart creative and scientific progress while hindering American prosperity. The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI and Microsoft, argues the opposite: that open AI used billions of dollars of journalism without permission or payment.
Ashley Coffey (03:56)
And that letting it stand threatens the survival of the publishers who produce the content that the models were trained on. A New York Times spokesperson said the administration is quote siding with a handful of trillion-dollar AI companies at the expense of countless American creators whose work they stole, end quote. Sarah Silverman and a number of other publishers and authors have also joined the suit. My take on this, when the government files a brief in a private copyright case.
Ashley Coffey (04:23)
That's not neutral. That's the administration picking sides. And it's the side of trillion-dollar AI labs over the newsrooms that produce the information those models were trained on in the first place. I get the national security argument and the abstract, but AI is important, doesn't answer whether OpenAI paid for what it used to build it. Fair use has never meant if the outcome is valuable enough, the input doesn't matter.
Ashley Coffey (04:48)
This one's headed for the Supreme Court eventually, and now the DOJ has put its thumb on the scale before it gets there. All right, that's it for AI news that you should know about this week. Show notes have links to everything we have covered. And if you want more of this, that's what our socials are for. Find me on Instagram and threads at AshleyRCoffey89. Follow the show, send us a topic you want covered, and we look forward to seeing you next week on AI news that you should know about. Thanks for listening.