[lp4v4n]

It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?

It seems to be the modus operandi of corporations in general: they commit any kind of infringement they want and then later they go for a settlement with a value that's, of course, not too big for a company too big to fail.

In the meantime, the average person or company gets shafted.

In my opinion, we are one step away from AI companies capturing the entirety of copyright legislation.

[baranul]

You do indeed appear to have a valid point. Many "chosen" companies, like Uber for example, appear to have broken numerous laws. Legal action against many such companies comes suspiciously slowly, where they have already obtained massive profits and value, before the possibility of being shut down comes. Then, when they are finally pulled into court, they have all kinds of money for the best lawyers and have already paid the right politicians (and others).

When the legal judgements for wrongdoing are finally handed out, they often come across as just an inconvenience or kind of tax, which is easily handled in comparison to the profits they've already made. Yet, if average Joe or persons not considered as being of "the right type" were to do such actions, they quickly get the full book thrown at them. Often, the full measure of legal punishment, where their company and life is or about nearly over.

[satvikpendem]

Paying this sort of fee in the first place is itself regulatory capture because only the big companies will be able to pay it. If they can pirate to make an LLM then so should us commoners be able to too.