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/
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@eff You just died for me.
AIANAL, but I find obvious that using copyrighted content to create content that competes with the copyright holder is far from being 'fair use'.
The main reason I am not contributing to open source is I don't want my code to be used to be used by AI. I don't mind if code derived from my contributions were to be published under the same license, but that's clearly not the case with AI.
Stop helping big corporations destroy the commons, please.
@eff Surely If it's just a tool, it's still possible to infringe copyright with that tool.
It seems to me, what matters is the relationship sources and the result.
Whether something is transformative is assessed case by case, creation by creation. (Irrespective of tools used).
And in the case of LLMs, where 'creators' do not select/understand their sources, whether it's copyright infringement or not is just a spin of the roulette wheel. The problem is now everyone's got infinite spins
@eff This is a fucking joke, right? Please, tell us all that this was just a joke.
I need to cut back on a some of the donations that I give to projects and this post just made it really easy to decide on at least one.
@eff Well, I guess "Bye, EFF!"
@eff And to think I used to have a recurring donation for the EFF. I'll have to find a way to counteract the help I gave you.
@eff Have you gone insane at the EFF?
As this basically is invalidating all your credibility!
@eff Yeah, that's not a bad legal decision. The threshold for copyright violation is deliberately set high, meaning that if you do something innovative with someone else's copyrighted material, you're *meant* to free to do that. That's by design.
@eff I am horrified. Seriously, EFF?
WTF? #AItheft #copyright #AI_slop
@eff who donated and how much for your to take that position?
This is a horrible take and I've just lost insurmountable amounts of respect for your organization
Hey, uh...
So if I set up a pantograph and use it to copy the contents of an entire book by tracing over the pages, and the pantograph is poorly-designed so it results in lots of errors, but the book is slightly larger and therefore distinguishable from the original by size alone, is that a transformative work? Especially if I sell it as an alternative to the original?
I'm just wondering where the limits apply.
