Cross-posted from petapixel.com [by Matt Growcoot]
A judge has granted a group of artists the right to continue their copyright claims against four AI image generator companies.
The makers of Stable Diffusion, Stability AI, are being sued along with Midjourney, Runway, and DeviantArt by 10 artists (including one photographer) for using their work to build AI image products without permission.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick ruled on Monday that it is plausible the companies violated the artists’ rights by illegally storing copies of their work on their systems.
The federal judge in California did throw out some of the other claims brought by the artists including unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and breaking a separate U.S. copyright law.
It is not a final judgment but by allowing the core claims of the case to continue it means the issue of whether using copyrighted material to train AI systems is fair use or not can be be heard in court.
The artists and their lawyers now move to discovery allowing them to ask for information from the AI companies about how exactly they use copyrighted material.