The Copyright Quagmire...where are we headed?

In a July 23, 2025 speech unveiling his “AI Action Plan,” President Trump stirred controversy by dismissing the idea that AI developers should pay for every article, book, or piece of content used as training data. He argued that such a requirement is simply “not doable” and would make it impossible to build successful AI systems. See Deadline Article. His underlying comparison drew on how humans learn—“When a person reads a book or an article, you've gained great knowledge. That does not mean you're violating copyright laws or have to make deals with every content provider” See Patently-O

and Politico

What This Means for Copyright Law

• Fair Use vs Fair Training? Trump’s remarks align with a growing argument that AI training should qualify as fair use—especially when it involves transforming and learning from content, not copying it outright.

  
  

• Licensing Chaos: Requiring AI developers to negotiate licenses for each work used could create a logistical nightmare: millions of contracts, lengthy negotiations, and soaring costs.

  
  

• But What About the Rights of the Copyright Owner? Publishers and rights holders warn that eroding copyright protections will chill creative content. They argue that without proper compensation and incentives, original creators will be undercut and undervalued.

Possible Solutions

There are some that suggest a middle-ground solution such as compulsory licensing pools, which bundle rights into one standardized system for payment and access. This may simplify the licensing process while still respecting the intellectual property rights of the content owner. patentlyo.com.

Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have introduced a bill that would prohibit AI companies from training on copyrighted works without permission, empowering creators to sue for misuse. See Publishers WeeklyArticle. Amazon recently entered into a $20+ million per year deal to license content from The New York Times suggesting that AI modelers are willing to honor copyright law when they can license a large body of works from a single point of access. The Wall Street Journal