Can training AI be a Copyright Infringement of art and photos?

The ABAJournal.com reported that “Legal actions filed on behalf of artists and stock photo company Getty Images claim that artificial intelligence companies are violating the plaintiffs’ copyrights by using their images and metadata to train AI software.” The January 19, 2023 article entitled “Artificial intelligence companies are accused of violating copyrights for artwork and photos” (https://tinyurl.com/mr3yj6xh) included these comments about the January 13, 2023 lawsuit Sarah Andersen et al v. Stability AI LTD et al filed in the US District Court in San Francisco (https://tinyurl.com/5mxnnzus) which is seeking a class action:

The suit says Stable Diffusion uses training images “to produce seemingly new images through a mathematical software process.” The AI images are derivative works, and “ultimately, it is merely a complex collage tool,” the suit says.

“These resulting derived images compete in the marketplace with the original images,” the suit says. “Until now, when a purchaser seeks a new image ‘in the style’ of a given artist, they must pay to commission or license an original image from that artist. Now, those purchasers can use the artist’s works contained in Stable Diffusion, along with the artist’s name, to generate new works in the artist’s style without compensating the artist at all.”

All AI products operate in substantially the same way, the federal suit says.

We need to follow this case because of the significant impact on AI!