Artificial intelligence & copyright law
Promoting
innovation
& creativity
For nearly 185 years, U.S. copyright law has allowed innovators to build from one idea to the next. The fair use doctrine has enabled new technology like the internet’s ubiquitous search engine. Today, it’s powering a new generation of AI-driven progress, helping to accelerate medical breakthroughs, unlock scientific discoveries, and create new economic opportunities. Copyright law lets society build on what came before — and pushes America forward.
How does fair use promote American progress?
The fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law has driven America’s competitive edge for generations. It’s the legal principle that keeps information flowing and fuels the next wave of breakthroughs. As AI evolves, protecting fair use is essential to sustaining American innovation and keeping the country at the forefront of technological progress.
AI expert videos
How does copyright law power AI innovation?
Copyright law safeguards creators’ rights while encouraging them to pursue new ideas. Fair use is what keeps the system flexible. It allows limited, transformative uses of copyrighted material that support research, creativity, and breakthroughs across science, technology, and the arts. Together, U.S. copyright law and the fair use doctrine uphold the Constitution’s goal to “promote the progress of science and useful arts” — powering American innovation today.
How does fair use lead to more accurate AI?
Fair use helps ensure accuracy by giving AI access to the broad, diverse data it needs to learn. Without large amounts of information, AI models can become less effective, less reliable, and more prone to errors or bias. Fair use is what helps make AI accurate, ethical, and useful.
What do the courts say ABOUT AI TRAINING?
Courts have ruled that training AI models on copyrighted works is a transformative use under the fair use doctrine. The material is used for a new purpose — to teach the model, not to replace the original work. And when disputes arise, courts are well equipped to evaluate those issues on a case-by-case basis.
What is CONSIDERED a ‘transformative’ use?
Any use of copyrighted material must be transformative — not a copy. That’s what allows new technologies like AI to build off existing works to create something with a different purpose or meaning. Fair use still protects creators’ rights by not allowing for the reposting or republishing of an entire work without permission.
Why not rewrite the law to account for AI?
U.S. copyright law is rooted in centuries-old principles yet built to keep pace as technology changes. Its strong protections and support for innovation provide a reliable framework for training AI. Policy changes would disrupt a system that has worked for generations and slow the very innovation it was designed to promote.
How AI is driving breakthroughs that improve lives
AI is accelerating breakthroughs across medicine, agriculture, and energy production — turning massive datasets into insights that help researchers work faster and smarter. These advances depend on access to diverse information drawn from the real world. Fair use keeps that access open, allowing innovators to analyze patterns, test ideas, and create new knowledge that will benefit society.
How AI plays key role in driving economic growth
AI is driving the next wave of economic growth by increasing productivity, improving supply chains, and creating new opportunities. Industries that rely on fair use already account for roughly 18 percent of the U.S. economy, contributing nearly $5 trillion to U.S. GDP, according to a Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) report. Fair use protects the access to information that makes this possible, allowing American companies of all sizes to compete and ensuring the economy remains strong.
How AI helps small businesses grow
Small businesses are already seeing benefits from AI, with 77% of those that use the technology saying limits would negatively impact their growth, operations, and bottom line, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report. Protecting fair use is key to giving AI the data it needs to power the tools that drive results for small businesses.
Why U.S. leadership in AI matters
The global AI race is not theoretical. China is advancing quickly, aiming to set the rules and norms that other nations will follow. U.S. leadership is essential to guide this technology in ways that reflect democratic values. Fair use plays a critical role by allowing American innovators to build on existing knowledge and drive the breakthroughs that keep us out front.
What’s at stake in the AI & copyright debate?
Misunderstandings about how AI models learn — and about what copyright law protects — could detrimentally influence policy. If the U.S. gets this wrong, we risk stalling progress, weakening our competitive edge, and allowing other nations to define the rules of the road.