Federal Judge Rules: Meta and OpenAI’s Use of Copyrighted Books for AI Training Deemed Fair Use

A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled in favor of Meta and OpenAI in a case brought by a group of authors accusing the companies of copyright infringement. The authors claimed that the companies unlawfully used their copyrighted books to train their artificial intelligence models. However, the judge determined that the companies’ use of the books falls under the “fair use” doctrine of U.S. copyright law.

This case is part of a growing wave of lawsuits challenging the legality of using copyrighted materials to train AI systems. These systems often require vast amounts of data to learn and develop, and this data frequently includes copyrighted material such as books, articles, and images.

In this instance, the judge relied on several factors to determine that Meta and OpenAI’s use was fair use. These factors include the purpose and character of the use (transformative), the nature of the copyrighted works, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for the copyrighted works.

The judge argued that the companies’ use of the books was transformative because it was used to create something new and different – an AI model. He also noted that the use of the books did not supplant the original market for the books, but rather was used for a completely different purpose.

This decision is likely to be appealed, and it could have significant implications for the development of artificial intelligence. If companies are not allowed to use copyrighted materials to train their AI systems, it could significantly slow down the progress of the technology.