Why Are Publishers Suing Big Tech With One Hand and Embracing AI With the Other?

Publishers are taking legal action against major technology companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, accusing them of violating copyright laws by using copyrighted books to train their AI models without permission.

These lawsuits argue that AI companies are infringing on the rights of authors and publishers by claiming that their use of copyrighted material falls under fair use.

Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes like criticism, commentary, or education.

However, AI companies contend that training AI models is equivalent to 'reading' rather than stealing, even though internal documents suggest they were aware this could harm authors.

For example, unsealed files revealed that OpenAI knew its actions could negatively impact authors, yet it proceeded anyway.