Anthropic Secures Key Fair Use Victory for AI, Yet Faces Continued Legal Challenges Over Book Theft

Anthropic recently secured a significant fair use win in a lawsuit involving five authors over the use of their works in AI training. The judgement, issued by Judge William Alsup, determined that while Anthropic’s scanned books fell under fair use, the over seven million pirated books it downloaded did not, prompting a potential jury trial. Anthropic’s co-founder, Ben Mann, had initially obtained these unauthorized copies from various pirate libraries, knowing they were pirated. The company later shifted strategies by purchasing millions of print books for legitimate uses, processing them for a research library. Judge Alsup noted the transformative nature of using the scanned books for internal purposes, aligning with the long-established concept that reading and interpreting texts should not incur repeated licensing fees. This case highlights ongoing debates in the AI industry surrounding copyright and fair use in the age of AI development.

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