Hollywood actors, directors, and producers have long been vocal on social issues, from addressing gun violence in films and TV shows to condemning the Palestinian militant group Hamas. This time, they have sent a letter to the Trump administration urging compliance with copyright laws related to artificial intelligence (AI).
On Tuesday, over 400 entertainment industry professionals, including Mickey 17 star Mark Ruffalo, Ben Stiller, and Paul McCartney of The Beatles, signed the letter sent to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
In the letter, they expressed their firm belief that America’s leadership in AI must not come at the expense of essential creative industries. They criticized AI companies for weakening copyright protections for films, TV series, artworks, literature, music, and voices used to train AI models.
Hollywood’s stance appears to be in direct response to recent requests from OpenAI and Google for the White House to relax AI-related copyright regulations.
According to U.S. media reports, on March 13, OpenAI argued that more lenient copyright regulations would promote learning freedom, protect U.S. national security, and maintain America’s competitive edge over China in AI development.
Google also recently sent a letter to the White House, claiming that exempting AI training from copyright restrictions would allow AI to use copyrighted public materials without significantly affecting copyright holders’ rights.
However, the Hollywood industry fears AI will exploit existing films and artistic works to mass-produce similar content, violating creators’ rights and threatening their livelihoods.
In their letter, Hollywood professionals highlighted the entertainment industry’s economic impact, stating that it supports over 2.3 million jobs in the U.S. and pays more than $229 billion in wages annually. They emphasized that America did not become a global cultural powerhouse by chance, attributing its success to a fundamental respect for intellectual property and copyright laws that reward creative risk-taking.
