It would be like KFC saying you can’t try to figure out how we made this food by eating it and taking the food apart and tasting it and testing it. And, again in my opinion, contract law (i.e., the terms of use for using the models) also does not provide the companies a viable claim because of a weird section of copyright law that basically doesn’t allow state law claims, such as contract claims, to be brought when they are in effect basically copyright claims.

This is what most people don't understand. Looking at a picture or looking at a web page is not stealing. Also, you can't compress the entirety of "the internet" into a 20-200GB model. The claim that the data they store are even close to exact representations is bunk.

Oh, you're using this argument to claim that models shouldn't be considered confidential and "trade secrets". Well, yeah, but also that argument can be turned the other way. Fair use still stands.

And I know you're an IP attorney and all, but I would be okay if LLMs end up destroying the entire framework of copyright. It is a system created by the rich, to be only abused by the rich. We're already seeing it slowly get dismantled first-hand with all of these decompiling experiments, and I'm sure that will be followed up with rich megacorps doing what they do best: playing the hypocrite by claiming one thing is infringing in their copyright, while what they do is totally legal.