Hollywood personalities write to Trump administration to uphold copyright laws in face of AI 'exploitation'

More than 400 Hollywood creatives, including actors, filmmakers, musicians, and writers, have signed an open letter urging the Donald Trump administration to reject efforts by AI companies to weaken copyright protections. 

The letter was submitted to the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as part of the administration's US AI Action Plan and directly responds to proposals from OpenAI and Google.

The signatories include Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Erivo, Cate Blanchett, Paul McCartney, Ron Howard, and Taika Waititi. They argue that AI companies should not be allowed to train their models on copyrighted works without permission or compensation.

"We firmly believe that America's global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries," the letter states. It warns that allowing AI companies to utilize copyrighted materials without restriction would undermine the economic and cultural value of the entertainment sector.

The letter criticises OpenAI and Google for seeking exemptions from copyright protections, asserting that these tech giants aim to exploit creative industries despite their substantial revenues. 

The signatories argued that the request for exemption to use copyrighted materials do not just threaten "movies, books, and music, but the work of all writers, publishers, photographers, scientists, architects, engineers, designers, doctors, software developers, and all other professionals who work with computers and generate intellectual property."

They added, "There is no reason to weaken or eliminate the copyright protections that have helped America flourish."

Google, in its submission to OSTP, advocated for "balanced copyright rules" and fair use exemptions, arguing that such policies have facilitated AI development and scientific progress. 

OpenAI similarly contended that the fair use doctrine supports American AI leadership and economic security.

The company also in its proposal cited threats from Chinese startup Deepseek and possible consequences of building on top of its models. 

"The federal government can both secure Americans' freedom to learn from AI, and avoid forfeiting our AI lead to the PRC (People's Republic of China) by preserving American AI models' ability to learn from copyrighted material," it proposed.

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