"FREEDOM TO LEARN"
OpenAI declares AI race “over” if training on copyrighted works isn’t fair use

National security hinges on unfettered access to AI training data, OpenAI says.
ASHLEY BELANGER – MAR 13, 2025 12:20 PM


Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI Inc., speaks during the AI Action Summit in Paris, France, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg

OpenAI is hoping that Donald Trump's AI Action Plan, due out this July, will settle copyright debates by declaring AI training fair use—paving the way for AI companies' unfettered access to training data that OpenAI claims is critical to defeat China in the AI race.

Currently, courts are mulling whether AI training is fair use, as rights holders say that AI models trained on creative works threaten to replace them in markets and water down humanity's creative output overall.

OpenAI is just one AI company fighting with rights holders in several dozen lawsuits, arguing that AI transforms copyrighted works it trains on and alleging that AI outputs aren't substitutes for original works.

So far, one landmark ruling favored rights holders, with a judge declaring AI training is not fair use, as AI outputs clearly threatened to replace Thomson-Reuters' legal research firm Westlaw in the market, Wired reported. But OpenAI now appears to be looking to Trump to avoid a similar outcome in its lawsuits, including a major suit brought by The New York Times.

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