So, about that low-key corner of government you probably never thought about — the U.S. Copyright Office? Yeah, it just became the front line in the AI copyright wars.
In a move that’s sending shockwaves through tech, politics, and creator communities alike, Donald Trump has fired Shira Perlmutter, the Register of Copyrights. Her ouster wasn’t just a routine reshuffling. According to Rep. Joe Morelle, it’s “a brazen, unprecedented power grab” — and it just so happens to follow her refusal to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s ambitions to scrape copyrighted content for AI training.
Let’s back up. Perlmutter was appointed in 2020 by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who Trump also fired this week. And now, just as the Copyright Office released a new report that throws serious shade on the idea of unlimited “fair use” in AI training, both women are out. The timing? Not subtle.
The report, which is part three of the Copyright Office’s long-awaited AI series, outlines the use of copyrighted content for research and analysis. Likely cool. Using it at scale for profit-making generative AI models that spit out content competing with the originals? That’s a hard no, especially when that content was scraped without permission.
The Office didn’t call for immediate government regulation but did emphasize that “licensing markets” should be allowed to mature, and floated ideas like extended collective licensing if things get messy. In other words, AI firms should probably pay creators, not ghost them.
Here’s where the drama peaks: Elon Musk, a Trump ally, is not only behind xAI (yes, the company merging with Twitter /X), but also an OpenAI co-founder. And he’s lately been parroting calls to “delete all IP law.” Wild, right?
OpenAI and other AI players are already being sued over copyright infringement. Meanwhile, OpenAI is lobbying for legislation that broadens what “fair use” can mean in the AI age. Trump’s firing of Perlmutter just turned that legal debate into a political flashpoint.
This isn’t just about one firing — it’s about who controls the future rules of the internet, creativity, and AI. And right now, it looks like the battle lines are being drawn in real time.
