To be fair, that seems to be where some of the IA lawsuits are going. The argument goes that the models themselves aren't derivative works, but the output they produce can absolutely be - in much the same way that reproducing a book from memory could be copyright violation, trademark infringement, or generally go afoul of the various IP laws.

Models don’t reproduce books though. It’s impossible for a model to reproduce something word for word because the model never copied the book.

Most of the best fit curve runs along a path that doesn’t even touch an actual data point.