Comment by duskwuff

That's not a great analogy. A person is expected to use their discretion, and can be held legally liable for their actions. A machine is not, and cannot.

> Then what if their memory is so good, they repeat entire sections verbatim when asked. Does that violate it? I’d say it’s grey.

That's an unambiguous "yes". Performing a copyrighted play or piece of music without the rights to do so is universally considered a copyright violation, even if the performers are performing from memory. It's still a copyright violation if they don't remember their parts perfectly and have to ad-lib sometimes, or if they don't perform the entire work from start to finish.