Potentially it can be argued that LAION is aiding in copyright infringement, but there is a very strong argument that no copyright infringement is occurring at all. (With one of the many interesting twists being that AI output is considered PD in the US)
My lawyer would say this is a "legally interesting situation": by which he means that the situation legally and ethically very unclear, and lawyers can earn a lot of money sorting it out.
My lawyer would say this is a "legally interesting situation": by which he means that the situation legally and ethically very unclear, and lawyers can earn a lot of money sorting it out.