AI Training on Millions of Books Faces Split Fair Use Rulings as 1976 Copyright Law Strains
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Aug 23
AI Training on Millions of Books Faces Split Fair Use Rulings as 1976 Copyright Law Strains
1 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Aug 23
Summary
U.S. courts still lack a clear standard on whether training AI on copyrighted books is legal, with lawyers saying early rulings are influential but far from definitive.
Judge William Alsup’s 2025 Anthropic decision ordered a $1.5 billion payout for pirated sourcing of books, yet still treated the model training itself as lawful and akin to reading rather than copying.
That contrast turns on fair use: courts have been more receptive when AI training is deemed transformative and noncompeting, but less so when it helps build a rival product.
A separate Thomson Reuters case found Ross Intelligence’s AI legal platform was not fair use because it trained on content to compete directly, a theory authors have not yet successfully applied to chatbots.
With most AI copyright suits still pending, experts say judges are stretching a 1976 copyright framework over modern AI, leaving rules unsettled for both model training and AI-generated works.