Copyright Alliance Statement on SJC Crime Subcommittee AI Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Eileen Bramlet ebramlet@copyrightalliance.org

Washington, DC—July 16, 2025—The Copyright Alliance, which represents the copyright interests of over two million individual creators and more than 15,000 organizations across the spectrum of copyright disciplines, shared a statement for the record regarding the SJC’s Crime Subcommittee hearing today.

On Wednesday, July 16, at 12 p.m. ET, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s (SJC) Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee is holding a key hearing titled, Too Big to Prosecute?: Examining the AI Industry’s Mass Ingestion of Copyrighted Works for AI Training. The hearing’s focus is on mass piracy of creative works and AI training. NYT Bestselling author David Baldacci will lead an expert panel explaining how AI developers have used millions of illegally pirated books to “train” their models, exposing them to massive liability and putting U.S. AI leadership at risk.

In light of the Copyright Alliance’s “Strong IP Strong AI Strong US” campaign, CEO Keith Kupferschmid submitted a statement for the record for the hearing, explaining that America can’t win the global race for leadership on AI on a foundation of criminal piracy. According to Kupferschmid:

The United States will not win the AI race with China if it comes at the expense of good copyright policy. Indeed, not only would undermining copyright law hurt the United States as the global leader in the creative industries, but abiding by good copyright policy will help ensure that users at home and abroad can trust and benefit from American AI technology over implementations from providers in other countries. That means using trusted, curated datasets that are the most accurate, providing consumers and businesses in the United States and across the globe with the confidence that they can use American AI tools without fear of “hallucinations” or other flaws that can cause harm. Indeed, as we discuss in more detail below, a recent report demonstrating that chatbots already include an alarming amount of Chinese propaganda seeded by the Communist Party demonstrates the harm that comes from relying on indiscriminate scraping of the internet to train AI systems as opposed to licensing reliable content.

The Copyright Alliance’s hearing statement, which is available in full here, also reviews the strong and growing market for licensing AI training materials and explains how piracy isn’t needed to ensure developers have access to high-quality, high-value works for training.

Kupferschmid is available to answer questions about the hearing or provide comments on AI training, licensing of creative works, and the Strong IP Strong AI Strong US campaign. Please contact Eileen Bramlet with any questions or interview requests.

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ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE

The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest and educational organization representing the copyright interests of over two million individual creators and over 15,000 organizations in the United States, across the spectrum of copyright disciplines. The Copyright Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, and to protecting the rights of creators and innovators. The Copyright Alliance is the unified voice of the copyright community, and the views espoused may not reflect the specific views of any individual or organization. For more information, please visit our website.