Tech AI LatestUS Justice Department backs OpenAI, says training LLMs on copyrighted text is fair use
The US Justice Department told the court on 1 September 2026 that training LLMs on copyrighted text is fair use, in the OpenAI copyright litigation.
Summary
The US Department of Justice filed a statement of interest on 1 September 2026 in the consolidated copyright cases against OpenAI in New York. The government argues that copying written works to train large language models is fair use, calls the training use exceedingly transformative, and rejects the market dilution theory from the Kadrey v. Meta ruling. The filing is not a ruling. Judge Sidney Stein still has to decide fair use.