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>CD-ROM burners

They can be used in an illegal way if used to copy copyrighted material, yes.

Same as an LLM, they can be used in an illegal way if used to copy copyrighted material. So I can't tell it to reproduce a copyrighted work. But it can create new material in the style of another artist.

The difference is that the LLM is still copying copyrighted material in your case, but if I burn a Linux ISO, that is not happening.

You do not have to produce an exact copy of something to violate copyright, and I think anything the LLM outputs is violating copyright for everything it has ever trained on, unless the operator (the person operating the LLM and/or the person prompting it) has rights to that content.

And are the burners themselves illegal because you can name illegal uses for them?

No, and I don't think anyone is arguing that LLMs should be illegal either.

I personally am not against LLMs training on things the operator has rights to, and even training on copyrighted things, but I am against it laundering those things back out and claiming it's legal.

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