Hundreds of Hollywood stars including Ben Stiller, Cate Blanchett and Cynthia Erivo have urged President Donald Trump to protect film, TV and music copyrights against big tech and artificial intelligence.
The open letter -- signed by over 400 actors, directors and artists -- hits back against tech giants like Google and OpenAI, who say their AI models must be allowed to train on a vast range of copyrighted work or risk being left behind by Chinese rivals.
But "weakening copyright protections" and allowing tech giants to "exploit America's creative and knowledge industries" would threaten "the world's most vibrant creative economy," says the Hollywood letter.
The U.S. entertainment industry supports over 2.3 million jobs that generate some $230 billion in annual wages, as well as "providing the foundation for American democratic influence and soft power abroad," it says.
The intervention comes after Trump in January signed an executive order committing to remove "unnecessary government control" of AI and boost "America's global AI dominance."
The White House invited companies and other interested parties to submit suggestions.
Google and OpenAI said they must be allowed to train their AI models on the widest possible range of copyrighted content, warning that rival countries could otherwise gain a dangerous advantage.
If Chinese developers "have unfettered access to data and American companies are left without fair use access, the race for AI is effectively over," wrote OpenAI, noting China's rapid progress with models like DeepSeek.
The Hollywood counter-letter was first sent to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy last week. Organizers said they are continuing to gather signatures.
AI has become an existential concern in Hollywood, where studios and producers are keen to explore its cost-cutting potential, but many creatives fear that its use could destroy jobs and damage the quality of content.
Artificial intelligence was a central issue in the strikes that in 2023 brought the U.S. entertainment industry to an expensive, months-long halt.
Writers and actors eventually agreed deals with studios including strict AI protections, requiring consent and compensation if AI models train on writers' movie scripts, or build computer-generated characters using actors' likenesses.
But the issue has returned to the fore with Trump's election and the ever-increasing grip of major tech companies on Hollywood, and the U.S. economy more broadly.
"Make no mistake: this issue goes well beyond the entertainment industry, as the right to train AI on all copyright-protected content impacts all of America's knowledge industries," says the letter.
© 2025 AFP
8 Comments
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virusrex
Likely to be as successful as consumer protection organizations urging Trump to protect people from crypto-scams.
As long as Trump can benefit personally more from the AI companies than from TV and film companies that is what is going to be allowed, supported or maybe even forced.
Cephus
"As long as Trump can benefit personally more from the AI companies than from TV and film companies that is what is going to be allowed, supported or maybe even forced."
Do you realize that, during his first term President DJT worked for free or zero wages?
virusrex
Do you realize that wages are the tiniest, least significative source of income for someone that can cause the market to go down and up, make dinners that cost millions of dollars to be invited and that can receive uncountable amount of money from billionaires if he does as instructed?
Cephus
virusrex,
"Do you realize that wages are the tiniest, least significative source of income for someone that can cause the market to go down and up, make dinners that cost millions of dollars to be invited and that can receive uncountable amount of money from billionaires if he does as instructed."
No, but I do realize people should be judged by the context of their character, no other President I know has ever worked for free or as a volunteer. That's good enough for me as indicator of someone who really cares about the Nation.
bass4funk
That's right and I know first hand, almost none of these people in Hollywood would ever work for free.
owzer
Not sure why the Hollywood crowd thinks Trump will go out of his way to help them. For the most part, they are rather critical of him and his policies. Would be funny to see Trump tell them to go pound sand.
wallace
bass4funk
Would you work for free? I don't think so. Many 'Hollywood people' work for the UN or charities. There are tens of thousands of 'Hollywood workers' who are not the stars and whose employment has been affected by the LA fires.
bass4funk
For my country, I would.
I know how Hollywood works all too well, and I can tell you, the vast majority of them are intolerable