Creatives have been screaming for years that generative AI relies on the unfair use of copyrighted material. The world’s preeminent AI startup is suddenly on the other end of the debate. Well, well, well—look who suddenly wants a word with the sheriff in the fair-use Wild West landscape of artificial intelligence.

To some, the tech seemed too good to be true, and rumors began to circulate that DeepSeek may have been hiding a key aspect of its models’ development. In the fall of 2024, acco