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What is Fair use?
Fair use is a rule in United States law that lets people use parts of copyrighted work in some cases without asking.
- Category Safety & law
- Updated 20 Oct 2026
Fair use, explained simply
Fair use is a legal idea. It says you can sometimes copy a small amount of a work for things like news, teaching or review.
Courts look at several factors. These include why you used it, how much you used and whether it hurts the original's market.
AI companies often point to fair use when training on public data. Courts are still weighing this. This isn't legal advice.
On ITG Now, our daily AI news stories sometimes mention fair use when companies argue about training AI on copyrighted work.
Related terms
CopyrightTraining dataAI regulationOpen sourceSoftware license
Questions people ask about Fair use
Is fair use the same everywhere?
No. Fair use is a United States idea. Other countries have different exceptions.
Does fair use let AI train on anything?
Not automatically. Courts decide case by case. This isn't legal advice.
What counts as fair use?
There is no simple rule. Courts weigh the purpose, the amount used and the effect on the original.