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Solana Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko Argues US Fair Use Law Already Covers AI Training on Public Web Data

July 21, 2026 at 12:27 EDT

Policy & Regulation
Foundation Models

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko has come to the defense of artificial intelligence developers such as Anthropic, contending that existing US fair use doctrine already permits the use of data that individuals and organizations have voluntarily published online.

AI & Copyright · The Fair Use Debate

Solana's Yakovenko Backs AI Firms: "Public Data Is Already Fair Use"

The Solana co-founder sides with developers like Anthropic, arguing that content voluntarily published online can be used to train AI under existing US copyright doctrine — a claim rights holders sharply dispute.

The Claim

Data willingly made public on the open web falls within established fair use — no new consent or licensing needed.

The Pushback

"Public" is not a blanket license. Fair use is decided case by case — and commercial-scale training may exceed it.

Two Camps, One Unsettled Question

Where technologists and creators split on training AI models on published work.

Permissive View

Open access = usable for research & development
Preserves the open innovation the internet was built on
Current statutes already cover the practice

Critical View

Scale & commercial nature differ from past precedent
Ingesting work without permission or pay harms creators
Transformative-use test is applied case by case

How It Gets Resolved

Public Debate

Divides the tech community — no resolution

→

The Courts

Ongoing lawsuits test fair use for AI

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Legislation

Potential new rules to settle the question

Until then, one of the defining legal questions facing the AI industry stays open.

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