Transformations are happening. Maybe if the output is verbatim afterwards, than that says something about the outputs originality all along... or am I a troll?
They're talking about transformative with regard to copyright law where it is an important part of determining fair use, not the dictionary definition you're using here.
I can't take NY Times articles, translate them into Spanish, and then sell the translations under fair use, even though clearly I've transformed the original article content.
