At an Axios expert voices roundtable in Washington, D.C., on March 25, industry leaders and legal experts indicated that the complex issues surrounding copyright protection and fair use in the age of artificial intelligence are increasingly being decided by the courts, rather than through legislative action. With Congress moving slowly and policy disagreements persisting, judges are becoming the primary arbiters of how AI interacts with creative works. This shift is partly due to the inherent complexity of "fair use," which is fact-specific and case-by-case, with new guiding principles emerging from each legal decision. Experts anticipate at least three significant fair use rulings this year that will shape the AI-artist ecosystem, highlighting ongoing legal uncertainty and the critical need to protect creative labor and human creativity.