23 Jul Trump Rejects Idea of Paying Copyright Holders for AI Training: ‘It Just Doesn’t Work That Way’ [Variety]
BY GENE MADDAUS
July 23, 2025 | President Trump waded into the complex issue of paying copyright holders whose works are used for AI training, saying it is impractical and would put the U.S. at a disadvantage to China.
Speaking Wednesday at an AI summit in Washington, D.C., Trump called for a “common sense” approach that will allow unfettered development of AI.
“You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or anything else that you’ve read or studied, you’re supposed to pay for,” Trump said. “You just can’t do it, because it’s not doable.”
AI companies have also argued in court that training on copyrighted data is protected fair use. A couple of federal judges have agreed, siding with Meta and Anthropic in a pair of rulings in June that threw out artists’ infringement claims.
In his speech at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium, Trump gave a succinct rendition of the AI industry’s perspective on the issue.
“When a person reads a book or an article, you’ve gained great knowledge. That does not mean that you’re violating copyright laws or have to make deals with every content provider,” he said. “You just can’t do it. China’s not doing it… You have to play by the same set of rules… It just doesn’t work that way. Of course, you can’t copy or plagiarize an article, but if you read an article and learn from it, we have to allow AI to use that pool of knowledge without going through the complexity of contract negotiations, of which there would be thousands for every time we use AI.”
The Human Artistry Campaign — a coalition that includes Hollywood unions such as SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and IATSE — has pushed the opposite side of the argument, maintaining that AI training should be done only with consent from rightsholders.