Conservatives urge the White House to say no to Big Tech’s AI copyright theft: “This is un-American and absurd”
Prominent Conservatives are speaking out against Big Tech’s copyright loophole.
One brick began to wobble, and now the entire MAGA wall is beginning to crumble. In another blow to the American right, several leading conservatives are putting the White House under pressure to reject efforts by major tech firms to use the “fair use” doctrine as a blanket justification for training artificial intelligence on copyrighted content.
In other words, they want Donald to go against his ‘Big Tech’ mates as they continue to do what they want under the guide of ‘progress’.
The coalition, including figures close to former president’s circle like Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, argue that this approach amounts to outright “copyright plunder” and undermines core American values in another instance of MAGA being torn apart from within.
On previous occasions, Bannon has said that AI companies “have to be confronted,” adding that “they’re totally out of control. You have no idea where these things are going to end up. No idea. Maybe the most dangerous thing we’re dealing with right now.”
“This is un-American and absurd”
“This is un-American and absurd,” the writers said in the letter seen by The New York Post. “We must compete and win the global AI race the American way — by ensuring we protect creators, children, conservatives, and communities.”
At the heart of the dispute are tech giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft, which contend that allowing AI systems to train on a broad array of existing web material, including copyrighted works, without seeking permission is essential to keep the United States competitive in global AI development.
Supporters of the tech industry frequently frame their argument in national-security terms. They warn that restrictive interpretations of copyright could handicap U.S. firms at a moment when competitors abroad, especially in China, are purportedly deploying less constrained data-collection practices.
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But the conservatives argue that this argument has been undermined by the ubiquity of AI for darker purposes: “While AI leadership is undeniably important for US geopolitical goals, one hardly needs a machine learning degree to question the national security imperative of unlicensed SpongeBob productions or erotic chatbots,” the letter said.
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