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Paul McCartney, Ben Stiller, Cate Blanchett and more than 400 celebrities and artists have sent a letter to Trump, urging his administration to not roll back copyright protections. More than 400 Hollywood celebrities and creative leaders, including , and , have signed an open letter to the Trump White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, urging the administration to not roll back copyright protections despite OpenAI and Google’s efforts. The letter directly challenges recent proposals from tech giants that argue US copyright law should allow AI companies to train their systems on copyrighted works without permission or compensation to rights holders.
"We firmly believe that America's global AI leadership must not come at the expense of our essential creative industries," states the letter, which comes after OpenAI and Google submitted proposals suggesting that more relaxed copyright rules would strengthen America's competitive edge in AI development against countries like China. The signatories include Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Erivo, Alfonso Cuaron, Chris Rock, Bette Midler, Ava Duvernay, Aubrey Plaza, Ron Howard, Ayo Edebiri, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lily Gladstone, Sam Mendes, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Gylenhall and Taika Waititi. They point out that tech giants like "Google (valued at $2Tn) and OpenAI (valued at over $157Bn) are arguing for a special government exemption so they can freely exploit America's creative and knowledge industries, despite their substantial revenues and available funds.
" "America didn't become a global cultural powerhouse by accident," the letter concludes. "Our success stems directly from our fundamental respect for IP and copyright that rewards creative risk-taking by talented and hardworking Americans from every state and territory.".
