Generative AI: Fair Use Laws and Copyright Challenges

Logan Fang

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the risks that generative AI poses to copyright and fair use laws while offering direction for aligning copyright protections with emerging AI technologies. The first section of this paper offers a pointed legal analysis of the Fair Use Doctrine and its provisions, examining its application to generative AI to determine whether it constitutes an exception to fair use. The second section will discuss relevant case law and court rulings on the issue to examine what current consensus and debates over the topic look like. The following section will examine the implications and dangers of unregulated generative AI and LLMs (large language models). Following this analysis, this paper will offer policy recommendations on the current literature to clarify generative AI’s position in the copyright realm.

I. Introduction

In recent years, the advent of generative AI has transformed the nature of creative and intellectual fields. Generative AI has contributed significantly to the proliferation of convincingly real computer-generated images, articles, poetry, and even videos across the internet. Unlike traditional AI models, generative AI can produce original output by using large datasets and various sophisticated generative techniques to synthesize artistic pieces that have never been created by humans before. Although the idea of such a revolutionary new form of technology can be incredibly exciting, we must be cautious of the risks that accompany it. Generative AI has several important implications in the realm of copyright law; most importantly, it calls into question the types of data and works that developers can legally use to produce artificially generated output. Current debates on the legality of generative AI focus on whether data collection techniques used by AI companies breach fair use statutes, which permit limited use of copyrighted materials without. . .

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