Patreon's CEO Calls Fair Use a 'Bogus Excuse' for Not Paying Creators

Jack Conte's position at SXSW was precise in a way that much of the AI-and-copyright conversation is not. He is not arguing that AI is bad, or that training on public data is inherently theft. He is arguing that fair use is being deployed as a while studios and publishers receive licensing deals — and that this asymmetry is not an accident of legal interpretation but a choice. That specificity matters because it sidesteps the generalized debate about whether AI copyright claims are…