Training AI models on copyrighted works is "squarely what transformative use is," EFF’s Tori Noble told Reason - these are "general purpose tools" and "exactly the kind of creation that copyright is designed to foster.” https://reason.com/2026/09/04/doj-says-barring-ai-training-on-copyrighted-material-could-severely-hamper-tech-progress/
@eff They aren't "general purpose tools" this *absolutely* isn't anything remotely like the creation that copyright is designed to foster, and it definitely isn't a transformative work. I get that she's a lawyer by trade and training, and therefore lacks the background to understand what "AI" is, so I have to wonder who she's been working with to have developed such an enormously skewed idea of what this technology actually is and how it's created.
@eff Sorry EFF but that is a terrible move. Maybe one day you will reflect and discover why. But until then hell no.
@eff Looks like the EFF just became one of those organisations I actively avoid donating to.
@eff never getting another fucking CENT from me you morally bankrupt fucks. What an unbelievably humiliating betrayal. You cannot trust anyone or anything in this world, apparently
@eff so how the f does that square with privacy and free speech????
Stealing is a violation of privacy, stealing our words is a violation of free speech. No one is being compensated. Rare books are being destroyed. In some cases original authors are being denied the rights to their own work because an AI stole it from them.
You can not say this is not stealing.
Absolutely you have violated your own purpose in existing.
Even granting the bizarre claim that training a large language model on entire works isn't a copyright violation, how can you pretend not to see the bigger picture?
I ask this as a long-time EFF contributor who's suddenly reconsidering.
@eff You have lost all credibility and are out of touch with the general populace.
@eff What the fuck is wrong with you
@eff No, that's bullshit. When did the EFF switch sides and start wielding specious arguments for the bad guys?
This isn't an argument for free speech. This is a defense of drowning out speech that comes from people.
@eff I am in no way a supporter of how copyright laws are used at times especially to attack remixes but the LLM-case seems extremely clear: Fair use clearly limits commercial usage, especially one where you directly compete with the original work.
WTF are you going on about saying running a business like OpenAI under fair use is allowed?!? If they gave away the motel for free then sure, this could be argued, but they are literally making money off of stolen works.
@eff
Machine learning transfers skill to wealthy while withholding wealth from the skilled.
Isn’t copyright intended to do the opposite?
@eff You're gonna argue in favor of them being able to copyright the resulting AI mashup too, aren't you? That's converting our work into their work without consent or compensation.
@eff A few weeks full of disappointments. What a disaster.
@eff Who bribed you, and how much did they pay?
@eff I strongly disagree. And it seems many more disagree too. Fostering billionaires is not what liberalism is for.