AI and Copyright Law

These judicial orders address copyright infringement claims against AI companies, Meta and Anthropic, for using copyrighted books to train their large language models (LLMs). Both courts analyze whether such use constitutes "fair use" under copyright law, a doctrine balancing author incentives with public benefit. The Meta ruling highlights that training AI on copyrighted works generally requires permission due to potential market harm, while the Anthropic ruling distinguishes between transformative training uses (which can be fair use) and unauthorized library creation (which is not). Ultimately, these decisions emphasize the importance of licensing and compensation for copyrighted material in the rapidly evolving field of generative AI, particularly concerning the impact on creators' markets.

Robot standing at a xerox machine