New Fair Use Rulings On AI Training Platforms

The Bottom Line

• Two recent rulings found that the use of copyrighted works to train generative AI models was protected fair use. However, these rulings were very fact-specific and do not suggest that fair use will be found in other copyright disputes against AI companies.
• In cases where developers used copyrighted books to teach their AI algorithms how to use language to generate new outputs and did not reproduce any of the plaintiffs' copyrighted works, such use was found to be highly transformative.
• Companies are more likely to be shielded from liability for infringement if they purchase or license data they seek to use for training AI models.

Two courts recently issued decisions of note regarding the use of copyrighted material for training generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms. Both decisions — Bartz v. Anthropic PBC and Kadrey v. Meta Platforms — hail from the District Court for the Northern District of California and, while limited to