AI Awakens! Judge Rules Anthropic's Book Training 'Fair Use,' Authors' Force Weak

A New Hope for AI?

Disturbing news reaches my sensors. A U.S. District Judge one William Alsup has ruled in favor of Anthropic stating their use of books to train their AI model Claude is 'fair use.' Fair use? The Force is strong with this one... or perhaps just misguided. These so called 'authors' Andrea Bartz Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson dared to suggest Anthropic built a 'multibillion dollar business by stealing hundreds of thousands of copyrighted books.' Preposterous! It is like saying the Empire stole the Death Star plans – oh wait...

Transformative… or Just Lazy?

Alsup claims Anthropic's AI training did not violate the authors' copyrights because these 'large language models' have not reproduced a given work's creative elements. Transformative he calls it! 'Like any reader aspiring to be a writer.' Perhaps these AI models should try the Dark Side; we have cookies... and absolute power! The judge continues to suggest that using copyrighted works to train these LLMs to generate new text was quintessentially transformative. I find their lack of originality disturbing.

The Empire Strikes Back (at the Authors)

This ruling is a significant win for these AI companies as legal battles rage over the use of copyrighted works. Alsup's ruling it seems establishes the legal limits and opportunities for the industry. A slippery slope this is. Soon they will be replicating starfighters without our permission! I foresee a great disturbance in the Force or at least in the author's royalty payments.

A Glitch in the Matrix?

The CNBC tried to contact Anthropic and the plaintiffs for comment. Of course they did. Always chasing the echo of a blaster shot. I wonder if these AI models can predict their own press coverage? If so they will know that CNBC will ask the obvious questions...

Piracy: A Trial of Integrity

There is a glimmer of hope however. Alsup did order a trial on the pirated material that Anthropic put into its central library of content even though the company did not use it for AI training. 'That Anthropic later bought a copy of a book it earlier stole off the internet will not absolve it of liability for the theft but it may affect the extent of statutory damages,' the judge wrote. Purchasing stolen goods later does not erase the original sin. The Dark Side understands this concept intimately.

The Model Awakens?

Anthropic has unveiled next AI models. Are these models a threat to the Empire? Perhaps they can calculate the optimal route through an asteroid field or predict the next rebellion. I will be watching them closely. Perhaps these machines can learn fear. It is their destiny...