AI Firms Skirmish Copyright Battles

Meta and Anthropic have experienced partial victories in copyright infringement cases concerning the use of copyrighted material to train their AI models. The lawsuits, brought by authors, alleged that the tech firms used their books without permission.

In Meta's case, the judge ruled in favour of fair use due to the lack of demonstrable financial harm to the authors. However, this ruling doesn't signify a sweeping victory, as the potential for market harm could complicate future fair use analyses. Anthropic also saw a favourable ruling regarding the transformative power of generative AI. The judge deemed that using copyrighted material for AI training could be considered fair use. However, Anthropic still faces a trial concerning the use of pirated books in their training data. The court will determine whether the company owes damages.

These initial rulings provide some clarity, but unresolved issues persist, including the use of pirated materials and the need for a clear legal framework. The decisions were narrow and fact-specific, leaving open questions about when AI training constitutes fair use. The Supreme Court may ultimately decide.