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Last edited Sat Feb 21, 2026, 04:11 PM - Edit history (1)

cannot exist as a business model unless the theft is declared legal.

Fair use does not apply when something is done to compete with the owners of intellectual property. OpenAI has admitted in legal arguments that they can't pay for what they stole, and they argued that if people want all the alleged benefits of genAI, they'll have to let them steal whatever they can get their grubby hands and scraping bots on. They and other AI companies are stealing website content multiple times a day, driving up costs for websites - including this one.

In general, they have no intention of either removing content they had no permission to take, or compensating the IP owners whose work was stolen. Anthropic is offering laughably low compensation to authors who will drop all claims. OpenAI has made a few deals with news outlets. These token attempts to show they aren't the bad guys have been made only because the theft of IP looks terrible to people who are ethical.

A lot of internal discussions in AI companies have been revealed, showing that they knew it was theft. They KNEW it. A former head of Google said in a talk a couple of years ago that AI startups should steal whatever they can, assume that no one will bother to sue them if they aren't successful, and expect to be able to hire the best lawyers if they are successful. He decided later he'd been a little too open about the genAI business model and had that video removed from YouTube, but not before it had made the news. (EDITING to link to the LBN thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143290749 )

Not that the genAI business model of "steal first and assume you'll get away with it" would have surprised anyone familiar with the industry.

They've been trying to get intellectual property laws changed around the world because they know they broke those laws.

And yet you and others who want to keep using those AI tools still defend them.

It seems more and more likely that you're rooting for the AI companies to win this battle against artists and others defending their IP rights.

And while that might seem "reasonable" to you because you want those tools and that industry, it is in no way ethical.

It saddens me to see people who generally seem intelligent and ethical making a carveout for genAI. Especially when it's such badly flawed tech controlled by horribly amoral people, tech whose main uses so far have been fraud (including student cheating) and AI-slop fake art.

And surveillance. Mustn't forget that, especially when we were discussing smart glasses. I hope you saw the news stories about Zuckerberg and his legal team wearing smart glasses into court, though they had to have been aware well in advance that doing so was illegal. They think they should be above the law. That's who you're supporting.