When you write something on the internet, you automatically obtain a copyright on it. Copyright provides the exclusive rights to reproduce, adapt, publish, per

When you write something on the internet, you automatically obtain a copyright on it. Copyright provides the exclusive rights to reproduce, adapt, publish, perform, and display that thing. Training an AI model isn't any of those things. If you transmit a thing to me, and I have those bits on my computer, you don't get to determine that I can't train an AI on it, unless we signed an agreement further restricting my use prior to you transmitting it to me. Now. My AI might produce a work that is sufficiently similar to your work that it is considered a reproduction or adaptation, but that doesn't mean that the training was an infringement. Also, courts have repeatedly held that webscraping is entirely legal. If you don't want folks (or their computers) learning from things you create, don't put them on the internet. NOW for the hilarious follow-on: Copyright is not granted for the results of an automatic process. Training an AI is an automatic process, and it's plausible that attempting to claim copyright on model weights would fail if it were litigated fully. It's more likely they'd qualify for trade secret protection.