OpenAI now tries to hide that ChatGPT was trained on copyrighted books, including J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series::A new research paper laid out ways in which AI developers should try and avoid showing LLMs have been trained on copyrighted material.
Fair use has never been seriously challenged. I’m betting it might happen soon though. We have to remember Fair Use isn’t a law, it’s a set of guidelines under the law that has never been clearly defined.
First of all, fair use is not a set of guidelines, it’s a legal doctrine that allows us limited use of copyrighted material without permission from the owner. It is a part of the U.S. Copyright Act, which is a law enacted by Congress.
Second, fair use has been seriously challenged plenty of times, just to name a few:
Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
Authors Guild v. Google, Inc.
Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.
I recommend reading this article by Kit Walsh, who’s a senior staff attorney at the EFF, a digital rights group who recently won a historic case: border guards now need a warrant to search your phone.
Fair use protects creativity, innovation, and our freedom of expression, but You almost sound like you want it weakened.