After criticism of AI training practices: Trump "fires" head of copyright office
The US Copyright Office is responsible for copyright issues and is currently very busy with questions relating to AI training. Now the boss is suddenly to leave
(Image: MR Gao/Shutterstock.com)
A few days after her office criticized the use of copyrighted works for training AI technology in a report, Donald Trump has allegedly ordered the dismissal of the head of the US Copyright Office. The US magazine Politico reports this and explains that the US President is not responsible for filling the position. Instead, it was the responsibility of the head of the Library of Congress, who had been dismissed a few days earlier. The reasons for the attempted dismissal of Shira Perlmutter are unclear. However, several US media outlets have made a connection to a report that was made public just last week.
Use of protected works for AI training criticized
The United States Copyright Office (USCO) is part of the Library of Congress and is responsible for granting copyright protection, providing information and advising the legislature. Recently, the authority has repeatedly been dealing with copyright issues relating to AI-generated works. Just last week, it published a more than 100-page report on "Copyright and Artificial Intelligence", which states, among other things, that "the commercial use of vast amounts of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes in existing markets – especially when the use is illegal – exceeds the established boundaries of fair use".
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The attempted dismissal of Perlmutter has been sharply criticized by the opposition in the US Congress. Democrat Joe Morelle speaks of a "brazen, unprecedented grab for power for which there is no legal basis". It is certainly no coincidence that the dismissal came less than a day after her agency refused to "approve Elon Musk's attempts to use vast amounts of copyrighted works for AI training". US media also point out how much influence the US billionaire has over the Trump administration and that, as the owner of his own AI company, he has an interest in releasing copyrighted works for training the models. The White House itself did not give any reasons.
Donald Trump has also contributed to the confusion surrounding the alleged dismissal of Shira Perlmutter in other ways. He shared a clear criticism of the move on his own social network, Truth Social, thereby helping to spread it. In the post, a lawyer predicts that the "tech bros" are now likely to try to "steal copyright from creators and artists for AI profits". "This is 100 percent unacceptable", he writes, linking to a media report on the dismissal. Donald Trump shared this without comment.
(mho)
