Author: Kate Beretta

A recent landmark ruling by a California court has delivered legal clarity on a defining question in the era of generative AI: can large language models (LLMs) be trained on copyrighted works without the rights holder’s consent? In Bartz v. Anthropic, a United States (U.S) federal judge in the Northern District of California held that training an AI model on lawfully acquired copyrighted books constituted “fair use” under U.S. copyright law. For jurisdictions like South Africa (SA), where the copyright law regime remains under review, the judgment provides timely comparative insight. With the Copyright Amendment Bill (B-13 2017) close to finalisation,…