--- title: Wikimedia asks court to rule AI training fair use, but... description: The Wikimedia Foundation filed a court brief arguing AI model training is likely fair use, but chatbot answers built with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Wikimedia asks court to rule AI training fair use, but not chatbot copying | daily.dev og:description: The Wikimedia Foundation filed a court brief arguing AI model training is likely fair use, but chatbot answers built with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/LTLyD6xBM.png og:image:alt: Wikimedia asks court to rule AI training fair use, but not chatbot copying og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Wikimedia asks court to rule AI training fair use, but not chatbot copying **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The Wikimedia Foundation filed a court brief arguing AI model training is likely fair use, but chatbot answers built with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) are not. The brief, filed in the combined OpenAI copyright litigation in the Southern District of New York, says training creates something new and doesn't replace the original works. RAG, by contrast, copies passages from sites like Wikipedia to answer a question and often reproduces much of the original text. Wikimedia argues companies using RAG should follow publisher licenses, such as its Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 terms requiring attribution. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Is using retrieval-augmented generation to copy website content for chatbot answers considered fair use? Wikimedia argues in a court filing that RAG is likely not fair use, even though training the underlying model is. RAG copies the most relevant passages from sites like Wikipedia or The New York Times to answer a user's question and often reproduces much of the original text, unlike training, which creates something new that doesn't replace the source material. _Teams building RAG features can track how this fair-use distinction plays out via daily.dev._ ### What license does Wikipedia content require attribution under when used by AI systems? Wikipedia content is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0, which requires credit to original authors and mandates that any adaptations remain under the same license. Wikimedia argues that chatbots using its content without following these terms steer people away from contributing to the platform. _Developers integrating Wikipedia data into AI products can follow licensing obligations discussed on daily.dev._ ### Is training a large language model on copyrighted text considered fair use under US copyright law? Wikimedia's court brief states that training a general-purpose model on copyrighted work is 'likely to be fair' use, since the resulting model is something new and does not replace the works it learned from. This position was filed as part of an amicus brief in the combined OpenAI copyright litigation in the Southern District of New York, distinct from its stance on RAG. _Anyone weighing AI training copyright risk can follow ongoing case developments on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The dictionary sues OpenAI](https://daily.dev/posts/the-dictionary-sues-openai-shapyua1q) · TechCrunch · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI Crash Course: Retrieval Augmented Generation \(RAG\)](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-crash-course-retrieval-augmented-generation-rag--f2som1u5k) · Telerik · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [RAG Explained: The AI That Checks Its Notes Before It Speaks](https://daily.dev/posts/rag-explained-the-ai-that-checks-its-notes-before-it-speaks-zta3qhe1t) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#openai](https://daily.dev/tags/openai), [#rag](https://daily.dev/tags/rag) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Wikimedia asks court to rule AI training fair use, but not chatbot copying","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm"},"datePublished":"2026-10-30T10:46:56.997Z","dateModified":"2026-10-30T10:48:06.099Z","description":"The Wikimedia Foundation filed a court brief arguing AI model training is likely fair use, but chatbot answers built with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3ae80337b79a17327a1447445dd449a0?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3ae80337b79a17327a1447445dd449a0?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"openai,rag","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Wikimedia asks court to rule AI training fair use, but not chatbot copying"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/wikimedia-asks-court-to-rule-ai-training-fair-use-but-not-chatbot-copying-ltlyd6xbm#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Is using retrieval-augmented generation to copy website content for chatbot answers considered fair use?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Wikimedia argues in a court filing that RAG is likely not fair use, even though training the underlying model is. RAG copies the most relevant passages from sites like Wikipedia or The New York Times to answer a user's question and often reproduces much of the original text, unlike training, which creates something new that doesn't replace the source material. Teams building RAG features can track how this fair-use distinction plays out via daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What license does Wikipedia content require attribution under when used by AI systems?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Wikipedia content is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0, which requires credit to original authors and mandates that any adaptations remain under the same license. Wikimedia argues that chatbots using its content without following these terms steer people away from contributing to the platform. 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