AI and Fair Use — When You CAN Use Other People's Stuff

Fair use is a real legal doctrine that protects commentary, parody, education, and news. AI can help you analyze if your use is fair — but the four-factor test is fuzzy on purpose.

Some examples

• Reaction video with your commentary = often fair use.
• Reposting someone's full TikTok = NOT fair use.
• Using a 5-second song clip in a tutorial = sometimes fair use.
• Selling merch with a copyrighted character = NEVER fair use.

Try it!

Think of one piece of content you've reposted. Ask AI: 'Is this fair use?' and study the answer.

Practice this safely

Try this with a school, hobby, or family example where the stakes are low. Use the AI output as a draft you can question, not as the final answer.

1. 1Ask AI to explain fair use in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
2. 2Give it one detail from "AI and Fair Use — When You CAN Use Other People's Stuff" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
3. 3Check copyright against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.