FSF Requests Anthropic to Release AI Models Under Free License Due to Copyright Concerns

"In 2024, Anthropic faced a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement during the training of its large language models (LLMs). Recently, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) raised concerns that Anthropic's training data included the book 'Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software,' for which the FSF holds copyright under the GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL). This license permits use of the work freely but requires derivative works to remain free.

The FSF urged Anthropic and other developers using large, internet-sourced datasets to provide their trained models, training configurations, and software source code to users under a free license.

While the FSF typically avoids litigation, they emphasized that if a lawsuit occurred and their copyright was violated, they would demand user freedom as a condition of resolution. The call to action highlights ongoing debates about copyright, AI training, and the application of free software principles to AI models."