Exclusive | Bannon, top conservatives urge White House to reject Big Techs fair use push to justify AI copyright theft | Latest Tech News
Prominent conservatives including Steve Bannon are urging the Trump administration to reject an more and more in style argument that tech giants are utilizing to rip off copyrighted materials to practice artificial intelligence.
So-called “fair use” doctrine – which argues that the use of copyrighted content without permission is legally justified if it’s achieved in the public curiosity – has turn into a common protection for AI corporations like Google, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Microsoft who have been accused of ripping off work.
The argument’s largest backers also embrace White House AI czar David Sacks, who has warned that Silicon Valley corporations “would be crippled” in a essential race against AI corporations in China unless they’ll rely on fair use safety.
Steve Bannon is one of Big Tech’s most vocal critics. x/nataliegwinters
“China is going to train on all the data regardless, so without fair use, the US would lose the AI race,” Sacks wrote on June 24.
Bannon and his allies threw cold water on such claims in a Monday letter addressed to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Michael Kratsios, who heads the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“This is un-American and absurd,” the conservatives argued in the letter, which was completely obtained by The Post. “We must compete and win the global AI race the American way — by ensuring we protect creators, children, conservatives, and communities.”
In August, Punchbowl News reported that Microsoft and Meta had organized dinners in an effort to woo former Trump administration figures with hawkish views on China to their facet of the AI copyright debate.
David Sacks, President Donald Trump’s AI and Crypto Czar, seems during an announcement between Trump and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) CEO C.C. Wei in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on March 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. Getty Images
In their letter, the conservatives argue Big Tech’s national security argument has been undercut by the unfold of frivolous makes use of for AI including pirated cartoon characters and creepy inappropriateized AI chatbots.
“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.
The conservatives level to clear financial incentives to back copyright-protected industries, which contribute more than $2 trillion to the US GDP, carry an average annual wage of more than $140,000 and account for a $37 billion commerce surplus, according to the letter.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche (L) and FBI Director Kash Patel (R), speaks during a news convention at the Justice Department on November 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. Getty Images
In some circumstances, AI giants have struck licensing offers to pay for content, such as OpenAI’s offers with The Post’s father or mother News Corp, Axel Springer and others.
Other disputes have resulted in lawsuits, such as News Corp’s go well with against Perplexity or the New York Times’ go well with against OpenAI and Microsoft.
The letter notes that money is no object for the businesses main the AI increase, which “enjoy virtually unlimited access to financing” and are each valued at a whole bunch of billions, if not trillions of {dollars}.
“In a free market, businesses pay for the inputs they need,” the letter said. “Imagine if AI CEOs claimed they needed free access to semiconductors, energy, researchers, and developers to build their products. They would be laughed out of their boardrooms.”
Michael Kratsios is one of the White House’s top tech coverage officers. AFP via Getty Images
The Post has reached out to the DOJ and the White House for remark.
The letter is the latest salvo in a heated coverage divide as AI fashions gobble up data from the web. Critics accuse corporations like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Meta of basically in search of a “license to steal” from news shops, artists, authors and others that produce unique work.
The letter cites a latest submission by the Big Tech-funded Chamber of Progress, which urged the White House on Oct. 27 to “intervene in legal cases to defend generative AI training as fair use, challenge excessive statutory damages and oppose the class certification of enormous numbers of plaintiffs.”
Chamber of Progress suggests that Trump ought to issue govt orders compelling the Justice and Commerce Departments to intervene on behalf of tech corporations that face copyright infringement fits – and argues it’s important to guarantee “maximum” AI development.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes a keynote speech at the Meta Connect annual event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, September 25, 2024. REUTERS
Bannon is President Trump’s former chief strategist who has turn into one of Big Tech’s most vocal critics. He co-signed the letter alongside Mike Davis, a close ally of Trump and influential MAGA lawyer who based the Internet Accountability Project.
Other signatories embrace Nick Solheim, CEO of American Moment; Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at Article III Project; Aiden Buzzetti, president of the Bull Moose Project, Daniel Suhr, president of the Center for American Rights; Jeff Mazzella, president of the Center for Individual Freedom, and Joel Thayer, president of the Digital Progress Institute.
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