🧠 Silicon Valley wins the first legal battle over AI and copyright
Meta and Anthropic are drawing lines in the sand while OpenAI, Jony Ive, and Sam Altman prepare the ultimate blow to the smartphone
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👓 Smart glasses are no longer science fiction — and copyright is no longer what it used to be
⚖️ Silicon Valley prevails: training AI models with copyrighted books is no longer (entirely) illegal
The moment is critical. Silicon Valley has won its first courtroom battle over copyright. And it didn’t win with lofty manifestos or industry-author alliances. It won — like most things in this revolution — through court rulings, lobbying, and faits accomplis. Silicon Valley wins the first legal battle over AI and copyright.
In just a few days, U.S. courts have ruled in favor of Anthropic and Meta, endorsing the use of copyrighted materials for training generative AI models. The notion that “AI doesn’t copy — it learns” now has legal backing in the U.S. And that changes everything. Fair use stands. Tech giants breathe easy. Authors lose — again.
This issue of Transparent Algorithm arrives at a turning point where three major vectors converge: legality, device transformation, and the reshaping of alliances among AI titans. All while Pope Leo XIV delivers a historic warning: “Human dignity is at risk of being annihilated.” Yes, AI has reached the Vatican too.
The smart glasses war: what seemed peripheral is now central
Meta’s Ray-Bans weren’t a gimmick — they were a signal. Now Meta has teamed up with Oakley, Xiaomi strikes back with its own sleeker version, and all signs point to a radically different device from Jony Ive and Sam Altman. It will have no screen. It won’t look like a phone, nor like a home assistant. It will be something new, hybrid, and explosive. Something that changes how we interact with AI.
We may be witnessing the dawn of the post-smartphone era. And like all technological transitions, there’s no consensus — and no calm. While Apple fumbles with Siri, Google releases Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite — its fastest version yet — and prepares Veo 3, a video AI that will integrate directly into YouTube. The future is visual, contextual, and conversational. And it will be wearable — not because the press says so, but because users demand it.
OpenAI: deals, divorces, and devices with a soul
Once again, OpenAI is at the center of the storm. It signs a deal with Mattel to make Barbies into mini-ChatGPTs. It partners with the U.S. military to develop AI capabilities. It signs with Google, Microsoft’s longtime rival — and now threatens to sue Microsoft over “anticompetitive practices.”
What’s going on inside OpenAI? Is there a breakup plan? A strategic decoupling? A tactical divorce from Microsoft to gain independence just as they’re preparing a new hardware release? All signs point to yes. Sam Altman is back in Altman mode — quietly cooking up something that will once again catch us off guard.
Let’s not forget: the new device co-developed with Jony Ive aims to redefine how we access artificial intelligence. It won’t be an app. It won’t be just another product. It’ll be a turning point. And Altman has already proven he’s a master of timing, messaging, and provocation.
Chaos as opportunity: from copyright to hardware
Meanwhile, Perplexity is under fire from the BBC for using unlicensed content. WhatsApp is adding AI to organize chats and is starting to show ads. Apple, once again, is falling behind. And Russia announces its own app to replace WhatsApp and Telegram.
In Spain, we’re playing a different game: Andalusia launches JuntaGPT with help from Google and Gemma 3. And a Basque startup just raised €189 million to “compress AI.” There’s talent, there are ideas — but the media spotlight is still fixed on the U.S. and China. Here, at best, we ban phones in schools and blame teenagers for screen addiction while adults keep forwarding hoaxes on WhatsApp.
A summer of power, algorithms, and signals
This summer of 2025 will be the stage for an invisible yet fundamental battle. What’s at stake is no longer who leads the tech race, but who writes the rules of the world to come. AI is no longer a tool. It’s a battlefield — of legislation, representation, culture, and sovereignty.
Court rulings in the U.S. confirm it. Corporate alliances reinforce it. Upcoming devices foreshadow it. And geopolitical tensions — with Trump, Musk, Altman, Thiel, Bezos, and the rest of the U.S. tech-political galaxy mutating before our eyes — amplify it.
Pivotal weeks lie ahead. And from Transparent Algorithm, we’ll keep explaining them — with critical perspective, journalistic rigor, and a desire to understand what’s behind the noise.