A US judge has ruled in favour of Thomson Reuters in a major copyright dispute over artificial intelligence (AI) training. The court found that legal research firm Ross Intelligence unlawfully used Thomson Reuters’ legal content to develop an AI model.
The lawsuit, filed in 2020, claimed that Ross Intelligence accessed Westlaw, Thomson Reuters’ legal research platform, to train its AI without permission. Judge Stephanos Bibas ruled that this practice did not fall under the “fair use” doctrine of US copyright law, which permits limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like teaching and research.
This ruling is significant as it highlights a growing legal battle over AI training and intellectual property rights. A rising number of lawsuits have been filed by authors, visual artists, and music labels against AI developers. These cases argue that tech companies have used vast amounts of human-created content to train AI models without permission or compensation.
The decision could set a precedent for future AI-related copyright cases, reinforcing the rights of content creators against the unauthorised use of their work by AI companies. As AI technology advances, legal disputes over intellectual property are likely to intensify.
