Wikimedia Foundation Advocates for Nuanced Fair Use Ruling in AI Copyright Litigation
The Wikimedia Foundation has filed an amicus brief in the ongoing legal battle between The New York Times, OpenAI, and Microsoft. Seeking a middle ground, the nonprofit argues that while training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted data should qualify as fair use, chatbots 'regurgitating' or reproducing specific content to users should not be permitted. The Foundation warns that an overly broad ruling in favor of publishers could allow copyright holders to gatekeep transformative uses of information. Conversely, a total victory for AI companies might lead to the violation of licensing terms and fragment the flow of knowledge. Wikimedia notes that while LLMs are vital tools for combating vandalism on Wikipedia, they also threaten the platform by siphoning away traffic and violating Creative Commons licenses.
Topics: AI Copyright Fair Use Doctrine Generative AI Intellectual Property