I think the argument is that it’s not the kind of copy that is copyright infringement.
In the sense that yes, the bits are copied from one register to another. But they aren’t stored permanently, nor are they distributed. So there’s no copyright violation.
Similarly my brain is making copies when I look at something. And routers on the internet make many copies sending the material to me. Etc etc.
If training on an image is copyright infringement for making copies, then so is viewing the image through glasses (image is transformed by the lens) or dragging the image from one monitor to another or caching the image in your browser and viewing it later from the cache rather than retrieving it again.
In the sense that yes, the bits are copied from one register to another. But they aren’t stored permanently, nor are they distributed. So there’s no copyright violation.
Similarly my brain is making copies when I look at something. And routers on the internet make many copies sending the material to me. Etc etc.
If training on an image is copyright infringement for making copies, then so is viewing the image through glasses (image is transformed by the lens) or dragging the image from one monitor to another or caching the image in your browser and viewing it later from the cache rather than retrieving it again.