AI and Copyright Law
Fair Use, Creators, and Lawsuits
Two federal judges just made opposite rulings about AI training. Here's what's actually happening in this legal mess.
What AI Companies Say
"We're making fair use of copyrighted material by studying it to create new, transformative content. This is like how humans learn from reading books. Forcing us to pay for every piece of training data would kill AI innovation."
What Creators Say
"You're stealing our work without permission or payment to build systems that compete directly with us. This threatens our livelihoods and the incentive to create original content."
The Split Decision
Two judges in San Francisco just ruled on nearly identical cases with opposite outcomes
Anthropic Case (Monday)
Judge William Alsup ruled that training AI on copyrighted books is "fair use" - legal and transformative.
Meta Case (Wednesday)
Judge Vince Chhabria ruled for Meta, but said AI training would be "unlawful in many circumstances."
The Meta judge's key point: "This ruling doesn't mean Meta's use is lawful. It just means these plaintiffs made the wrong arguments and failed to build the right case."
The Real Issue
AI can now "flood the market with endless images, songs, articles and books using a tiny fraction of the time and creativity" normally required. This could "dramatically undermine the market" for human-created works.
Fair Use Explained
A legal doctrine that allows using copyrighted work without permission in some circumstances - like criticism, education, or creating something transformative. The key question: Is AI training transformative enough?
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Who's Getting Sued
OpenAI
Microsoft
Meta
Anthropic
Google
Stability AI
Bottom Line: These cases will determine whether AI companies need to pay creators for training data - potentially changing the entire industry. The conflicting rulings mean this is headed to higher courts or Congress.