Donald Trump asserted that it is “not do-able” to expect AI companies to pay for all the copyrighted content they use to teach machines in training models.
While speaking at the AI Summit on Wednesday, Trump explained that the United States needs to stay competitive with countries like China when it comes to AI. Part of that means not expecting companies to pay for using copyrighted material used in training.
“You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or whatever you’ve studied, you’re expected to pay for,” the president said. “We appreciate that, but you just can’t do that because it’s not do-able. And if you’re going to try and do that, you’re not going to have a successful program.”
Trump continued: “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. You just can’t do it. China’s not doing it.”
The president spoke as the White House rolled out its AI Action Plan. Much of the current administration’s planning deals with expanding data centers and lowering regulations for tech companies and AI – a stark opposite from the Biden administration’s commitment to investigating the safety and regulation of the growing industry. The comments likely come as a relief to many companies working in the AI space that have long-argued that such materials fall under fair use law.
“When you have something, and when you read something, and when it goes into this vast intelligence machine, we’ll call it, you cannot expect to every time, every single time, say, ‘Let’s pay this one that much,’” Trump added. “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.”
Watch the full clip of Trump’s speech, above.
