A battle is brewing in the U.S. Copyright Office over artificial intelligence’s use of copyrighted material — and Big Tech is spending millions to ensure they win.
By Freddy Brewster, The Lever
Big Tech leaders are spending millions of dollars — and pushing dubious national security concerns — to try to prevent federal regulators from forcing them to pay for the copyrighted works their companies are using to train their AI systems.

At issue is a new effort by the U.S. Copyright Office to consider how to apply U.S. copyright law to the nascent AI industry. The matter has triggered impassioned pushback from powerful tech interests who say they must have access to people’s hard work for free, or the future of their industry will be jeopardized.
The fight comes as artists, actors, news organizations and others have sued AI companies using their work to train the emergent technology on how to create images in the style of certain artists, replicate voices of singers, write new literature based on copyrighted works, and many other instances in which original work is being harvested off the internet free of charge.
As the AI industry is buffeted by executive shake ups and mounting concerns that AI systems are growing too powerful, Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Big Tech venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz have spent over $30 million lobbying lawmakers and regulators on AI and other tech-related issues.
Recent Posts
The IRS Is Building A Vast System To Share Millions Of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE
July 17, 2025
Take Action Now ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security…
Israel’s Sudden Assault On Syria Is Unchecked Aggression
July 17, 2025
Take Action Now Jerusalem is bombing Damascus and threatening al-Sharaa’s rule, while Washington was hoping to help the nascent government on…
The Dangers Of Nuclear War Have Never Been Higher
July 16, 2025
Take Action Now Yet mainstream US media outlets and partisan politics are routinely oblivious to threat of oblivion.By Norman Solomon, The Nation…
‘Gaza Journalists Under Fire’, A Zero Hour Conversation With Robert Greenwald
July 16, 2025
Take Action Now Robert Greenwald appeared on The Zero Hour to discuss “Gaza: Journalists Under Fire,” his new documentary on the 200+…