Federal Judge Declares Copyrighted Books Fair Use for AI Training Purposes

A federal judge ruled in favor of Anthropic, stating that AI developers can train models on published books without author consent, classifying it as fair use. This decision, made by Judge William Alsup in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is significant amid ongoing copyright lawsuits concerning generative AI tools, which utilize copyrighted works without permission from creators. Despite this ruling, which marks a precedent, it does not guarantee similar outcomes in other cases. The lawsuit involved authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, who accused Anthropic of using their works unlawfully. Although Alsup acknowledged that the works had expressive elements deserving stronger protection, he found that the transformative nature of AI training justified fair use. However, he maintained that Anthropic must address its use of pirated copies in future proceedings. AI firms are encouraged to acquire works through legitimate means rather than unauthorized methods.

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