I'm not disagreeing with AI model training fair use, but this isn't the argument for it.
"(new tech) does the same thing as humans, just better" has never been a valid defense. It's like saying a human could explain the plot of a movie and draw the scenes, therefore it's okay to bring a camera into a theatre and record a movie and distribute it. Or that a human can hear a conversation and remember what was said, so there's no distinction between that and recording the conversation using a phone.
But an AI model doesn't record the original work verbatim with the goal of directly reproducing the original.
Aside: and you can bring a camera to a theater and record a movie and use it in a transformative work. And a human could still liable for damages if their hand-drawn performance of Star Wars detracted from Disney’s revenue. I’m not saying I agree, just stating tue status quo.
Training a model uses the work only to calibrate weights that govern entirely independent output. The fact that it can recall exactly in some cases is a secondary effect of the technology.
Anyway my argument is that “ability to reproduce verbatim a copyrighted work is not a valid characteristic when determining whether something consumed the work fairly”.
> Anyway my argument is that “ability to reproduce verbatim a copyrighted work is not a valid characteristic when determining whether something consumed the work fairly”.
I agree with this. I only disagree with the assertion that AI or $newtech "doing something humans already do but better" has any legal importance. There are many existing laws which apply only when using technology. It's legal to drink and run, but not drink and drive, even though they both get you from point A to point B and cars just do it faster.
"(new tech) does the same thing as humans, just better" has never been a valid defense. It's like saying a human could explain the plot of a movie and draw the scenes, therefore it's okay to bring a camera into a theatre and record a movie and distribute it. Or that a human can hear a conversation and remember what was said, so there's no distinction between that and recording the conversation using a phone.