Anthropic Scores Key Fair Use Victory for AI, Yet Faces Ongoing Legal Challenges Over Book Copyright Infringement

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Anthropic in an AI copyright case, determining that training its AI models on legally purchased physical books without author consent is fair use. This landmark decision only applies to books Anthropic acquired and digitized, as Judge William Alsup notes that a separate trial will address allegations of the company pirating millions of books online. The ruling does not clarify whether AI-generated outputs infringe on copyrights, an issue in ongoing cases. The lawsuit was initiated by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, who claimed Anthropic trained its AI models on unauthorized material. Alsup emphasized that digitizing purchased books was transformative and aligned with copyright’s goal of fostering creativity. However, he criticized Anthropic’s storage of pirated copies, asserting that such actions do not meet the criteria for fair use. A trial regarding the pirated content will determine damages. Anthropic welcomed the ruling, highlighting its implications for the AI industry.

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