AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified
Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/ai-industry-horrified-to-face-largest-copyright-class-action-ever-certified/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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@kacey "Dear God. Please change the laws of the universe for my personal convenience!" - Emo Phillips. @arstechnica
@kacey @arstechnica not just funny, it'd also probably do a lot of good for the world
@arstechnica Hey @AaronSw have you seen this? Oh right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz
Aaron Swartz - Wikipedia

@arstechnica Your heading "Some authors won't benefit from class actions" is wrong. ALL authors benefit when AI companies are forced to either pay to access copyrighted content or stop using it.
@arstechnica Don’t threaten me with a good time

@arstechnica While the cited advocacy groups’ concerns are valid—that this isn’t really a proper settlement for the actual owners of stolen works—Anthropic’s anemic response is predictable. There is no attempt at justifying the act of thievery; rather, all their words boil down to is, “You should just let this slide because AI is too important* for the tech industry’s future.”

*Citation fucking needed.

@arstechnica
Good, they need to pay their fair share. If they can’t do that, then good riddance.
Maybe work on quantum which would help with computing large problems faster than before, instead of using the same computing power and burning the earth to have the results in , however long it takes. Ai (machine learning slop) can’t be used in this “free for all” (and the devil to pay later) scenario. It’s just wrong.

@arstechnica Please don't let the authors settle. A settlement would let the defendant keep operating and just pay some large-but-survivable penalty.

Don't stop until you've ruined them and destroyed every cent of assets they have and have a court order demanding that the models be destroyed as infringing articles with no lawful function.

@arstechnica "Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry" so in other words, nothing will happen to these companies to preserve the status quo.
@arstechnica YEEEEEAH 🥳🥳🥳🥳
@arstechnica Might it bankrupt Thiel, Andresen and Musk at the same time? One can only hope.

@arstechnica

Given the insane hardware and operating costs of LLMs and the lack of a revenue model that can match them, that's like saying a cloud of starlings poses a risk to the people who jumped from the airplane with no parachute.

@arstechnica They'll have thought of this, and the risk will have been described in their prospectus, so the investors knew perfectly well what they were getting into.

@arstechnica

Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.

@nyrath @arstechnica [ "Alsup allegedly failed to conduct a "rigorous analysis" of the potential class and instead based his judgment on his "50 years" of experience, Anthropic said." ]

AI companies suddenly very annoyed when someone uses their...*checks notes*...own legal career as the "Data they trained on.".

@nyrath @arstechnica

Court proceedings could financially ruin stolen car industry, trade groups say.

@arstechnica
😂 Tomorrow I will go to my local bank and take 100 million dollars for free. Otherwise my business will be financially ruined.

@arstechnica

Look, just because they committed the largest copyright theft in history, is that any reason for them to face the largest copyright lawsuit in history?

Yes. Yes, it is.

@davidtheeviloverlord @arstechnica Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.
@arstechnica Coming soon to a bank robbery trial near everybody...
@arstechnica Ah, the sweet scent of FAFO is in the air.
@arstechnica And yet, if the plaintiffs prevail, and the (so-called) AI industry is destroyed, nothing of value would be lost. In fact, it would be a net benefit to humanity.
@arstechnica don't threaten me with a good time.

@arstechnica

Good.

Also, nice LLM-written article. Reads like a shitty fanfic.

@arstechnica yes, ai-technica cannot publish an article which criticises artificial intelligence crap. They sold their soul.
@arstechnica
Yes, please! Give the money back to the creators and send the techbros to the poorhouse.
@arstechnica “Thieves say that being prosecuted for theft means they may lose all their swag”.
@arstechnica if only rich people actually suffered consequences for their wrongdoings, if only...

@arstechnica

So they’re arguing that no one can properly identify the owners of the stuff they stole, so they shouldn’t pay damages for benefiting from the theft?

#AI #genAI #oligarchs

@arstechnica I’ve never cheered for a lawsuit this hard in my life
@arstechnica Judge Alsup strikes again! This man is the real deal, he actually went out of his way to get acquainted with tech when large trials came his way. I can only hope for good, knowledgeable decisions, one can hope 🤞🏻